Landslide win for Modi in India elections…Gandhi concedes defeat

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured another five-year term after winning a landslide general election victory.

Results so far show his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to win about 300 of the 543 seats in parliament.

The main opposition alliance, which is headed by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party, has admitted defeat.

The vote had been widely viewed as a referendum on the prime minister’s Hindu nationalist politics.

Over 600 million people voted in a marathon six-week process.

Mr Modi has not just exceeded exit poll predictions but has also won a larger share of the vote than the 2014 elections, partial results show.

“Thank you India!” the prime minister tweeted. “The faith placed in our alliance is humbling and gives us strength to work even harder to fulfill people’s aspirations.”

At a press conference in Delhi, opposition leader Mr Gandhi conceded the general election as well as his Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh – which he had held since 2004 and his family had held for decades.

Partial and declared results show Mr Modi’s BJP is projected to win 300 seats, while the main opposition alliance headed by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party is expected to win fewer than 100.

A party or coalition needs at least 272 seats to secure a majority in the 543-member lower house of parliament, or Lok Sabha.

In 2014, the BJP won 282 seats – the biggest victory by any party in 30 years – and with its allies it secured 336 seats in that parliament.

The Congress, which won just 44, suffered its worst defeat in 2014 and with its allies took up just 60 seats in the lower house.

This year, there were 900 million voters eligible to take part in seven rounds of voting, making it the largest election the world had ever seen.

Results are being released in phases by the Election Commission but a final result may not be known for several hours or longer.

Narendra Modi made this an election all about himself.

He should have faced some anti-incumbent feeling. Joblessness has risen to a record high, farm incomes have plummeted and industrial production has slumped.

Many Indians were hit hard by the currency ban (also known as demonetisation), which was designed to flush out undeclared wealth, and there were complaints about what critics said was a poorly-designed and complicated uniform sales tax. –BBC