NEW DELHI (AP) — India started counting votes Tuesday from its staggered, six-week election that was seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decade in power and was expected to give him a third term in office.
Early leads showed fewer seats for Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party than expected. BJP is part of the National Democratic Alliance, whose parties were leading in 283 constituencies according to an early count. The Congress party is part of the INDIA alliance, which was leading in 232 constituencies.
A total of 272 seats are needed for a majority in parliament.
Nearly 970 million people — more than 10% of the world’s population — were eligible to vote and turnout averaged 66%, according to official data. The tallying at counting centers in 543 constituencies could stretch well into the evening before final results are announced, though substantial leads are likely to emerge earlier.
India’s vote is the latest in an unusually busy stretch of elections around the world that are challenging the status quo.
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— A scorching heat wave killed 14 in India before the final phase of voting.
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Here’s the latest:
India’s Election Commission says early counting of votes shows incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party comfortably ahead, but with a stronger than expected showing by the main opposition.
Some six hours into counting, Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP was ahead in 236 constituencies and had won two — including one uncontested — of 543 parliamentary seats.
The main opposition Congress party was leading in 99 constituencies.
The Election Commission does not release data on the percentage of votes tallied, but counting is expected to go on through the day. A total of some 642 million votes are being counted in the world’s largest democratic exercise.
Modi’s party is part of the National Democratic Alliance, whose parties were leading in 283 constituencies according to the early count, including the two won by BJP. The Congress party is part of the INDIA alliance, which was leading in 232 constituencies.
A total of 272 seats are needed for a majority in parliament.
Indian markets, which closed at an all-time high Monday, were down sharply in midday trading Tuesday, after early leads showed fewer seats for Modi’s governing BJP than had been expected.
Modi’s party still showed a comfortable lead, according to early figures reported by India’s election commission. but was facing a stronger challenge from the opposition than exit polls had projected.
India’s benchmark stock indices, the NIFTY 50 and the BSE Sensex, were both down by more than 8% before recovering slightly. This followed a dip of more than 3% when markets opened.
The country’s stock markets have boomed under Modi, whose pro-market policies have made him popular among India’s corporations and businesspeople.
Temperatures in the Indian capital were down Tuesday from highs in the past week of 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), but election officials and political parties were nonetheless taking precautions as votes were being counted.
Workers carried cases of water into one air-conditioned counting station in New Delhi early in the morning in preparation, while tents outside for security personnel and others were outfitted with industrial evaporative coolers.
Temperatures in the morning hovered around 37 C (99 F) in New Delhi and were expected to rise to 41 C (106 F) by the end of the day.
At the headquarters of the opposition Congress party, a tent was set up outside, equipped with evaporative coolers, for waiting media.
Indian women are a key voting bloc with more of them voting in recent elections than ever before. Most poll experts expect women voters to play a decisive role in determining the 2024 election results.
Political parties have been wooing them with monthly cash handouts, subsidized cooking gas cylinders and low-interest loans. Many such programs have particularly helped Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party widen its support among them, especially in rural areas. The opposition alliance also tried to gain women’s votes by unveiling programs that promised financial aid of $1,200 per year to poor women, and promised to reserve 50% of government jobs for women if voted into power.
Women make up nearly 49% of India’s total electorate. Turnout has grown in each recent major election — of women who were eligible to vote, 53% voted in 2004; 56% in 2009; 65.5% in 2014; and 67% in 2019. Data for 2024 was not yet available but was estimated to resemble 2019’s female voter turnout.
The counting of some 642 million votes cast in India’s election is being done at various locations around the country by government employees. Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said they were starting with postal ballots and then move on to combining the votes from India’s electronic voting machines.
The process is expected to be completed by the end of the day Tuesday.
India has close to 970 million eligible voters, and votes were cast at more than a million polling stations staggered over the last six weeks.
That brought the final phase into India’s hottest season, with temperatures higher than 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in some parts of the country, and Kumar said the election officials learned a valuable lesson.
“We should have completed the election at least one month before,” he said ahead of the start of the counting. “We shouldn’t have let it continue into so much heat.”
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