Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that people have placed their faith in his National Democratic Alliance for a third time and that he would continue the good work done in the last decade to keep fulfilling their aspirations.
Modi and his allies are heading towards a victory in the country’s general election count on Tuesday, but with a reduced parliamentary majority as the opposition surpassed expectations.
For the first time in a decade Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would have failed to secure an overall majority of its own, figures from the election commission suggest, meaning it needs to rely on its alliance partners.
The main opposition Congress party have nearly doubled its parliamentary seats, in a remarkable turnaround largely driven by deals to field single candidates against the BJP’s electoral juggernaut.
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Commentators and exit polls had long projected an overwhelming victory for Modi, whose campaign wooed the Hindu majority to the worry of country’s 200-million-plus Muslim community, deepening concerns for minority rights.
Markets fall
Stocks slumped on speculation the reduced majority would hamper the BJP’s ability to push through reforms.
Shares in the main listed unit of Adani Enterprises – owned by key Modi ally Gautam Adani – dropped 25 percent, before recovering.
Modi’s opponents have struggled to counter the BJP’s well-oiled and well-funded campaign juggernaut, and have been hamstrung by what they say are politically motivated criminal cases aimed at hobbling challengers.
US think tank Freedom House said this year that the BJP had “increasingly used government institutions to target political opponents”.
Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of the capital Delhi and a key leader in an alliance formed to compete against Modi, returned to jail on Sunday.
Kejriwal, 55, was detained in March over a long-running corruption probe, but was later released and allowed to campaign as long as he returned to custody once voting ended.
“When power becomes dictatorship, then jail becomes a responsibility,” Kejriwal said before surrendering himself, vowing to continue “fighting” from behind bars.