In India, one billion people were called to vote in the parliamentary elections. According to initial forecasts, Prime Minister Modi is on the verge of a landslide victory.
In India, the parliamentary elections have come to an end after more than six weeks. The last polling stations closed on Saturday, but the results are not expected until Tuesday. According to a post-election poll, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing a third term in office and would therefore rule for another five years.
According to a forecast published on CNN-News18 after the polls closed on Saturday, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies will win at least 355 seats in the New Delhi assembly in the parliamentary election. Only 272 seats are needed for a majority.
The 73-year-old prime minister remains popular even after a decade in power, while his opponents have been weakened by internal power struggles and politically motivated criminal proceedings.
Critics and the opposition fear that if Modi's party is re-elected, it could try to change the constitution in order to further consolidate this course. It remains to be seen whether the BJP can further expand its majority in parliament to do this. Modi would be only the second head of government in his country to serve a third term – after the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
In total, around one billion eligible voters were called upon since mid-April to vote in several phases in the largest election in the world – the country is the most populous in the world, just ahead of China. More than 8,000 candidates were running. The last polling stations in the South Asian giant closed on Saturday at 6 p.m. local time.
During the election campaign, Modi presented himself as a strong man and pointed to the robust economic growth that attracts investors. Under his leadership, the subcontinent has become the fifth largest economy in the world. Under Modi, India became the fourth country to land on the moon. He is also investing heavily in modern infrastructure such as roads, high-speed trains and airports. But growth is not evenly distributed. During the election campaign, Modi's critics pointed to the high unemployment and inflation.
Modi, 73, and his party want to expand their power with the aim of making India a state primarily for the Hindu majority, which makes up 80 percent of the population. Observers say the approximately 200 million Muslims and other religious minorities are increasingly becoming second-class citizens. Modi's promise is a radical departure from the vision of India's founding father, Mahatma Gandhi, who once advocated the separation of church and state and harmony among religions.
The election was accompanied by a severe heat wave: temperatures of around 50 degrees were measured in northern India. There were cases of heat stroke, some of which were fatal – even among the election workers, as local media reported, citing official information.
