Narendra Modi claims victory in Indian elections – but fails to gain overall majority
Modi won his seat in the city of Varanasi by a comfortable margin and will serve a third term in office.
India has been left in chaos as Modi fails to gain an overall majority in election bombshell.
Narendra Modi won his seat in the city of Varanasi by a comfortable margin, with his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning almost a majority of seats.
A total of 272 seats are needed for a majority in the country's lower house of parliament - but Modi's party only has 242 seats during counting so far.
The party is part of a broader National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of parties - who, in total, are ahead in nearly 300 constituencies.
The BJP won landslide victories in 2014 and 2019. Modi would be the second prime minister to win three consecutive terms.
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Modi described the coalition success as a "historical feat" despite falling short of the overwhelming majority predicted by exit polls.
Despite the initial results on Tuesday, Mr Modi declared victory in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
He wrote: "People have placed their faith in NDA, for a third consecutive time! This is a historical feat in India's history."
The counting of 642 million votes in the world's largest election began early this morning with around half tallied so far.
The anti-Modi alliance of parties is ahead in 232 constituencies so far, according to the early counting.
Indian political commentator Arati R Jerath said: "We'll have to see who is going to lead this government because we are now going back to the days of bargaining which we haven't seen in the last 10 years, because Modi was so dominant.
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"Now, Modi is not known as a consensual figure. So, it'll be very interesting to see how he manages the pulls and pressures of a coalition government."
Modi has been in power for a decade and his leadership has left the country divided religiously and economically.
Critics say his Hindu-first policies have bred intolerance, hate speech and brazen attacks against the country's minorities - particularly Muslims but also Christians and other religious groups.
The country’s fast-growing economy has pushed India forward as a global power but only a small portion of the population have benefitted, with youth unemployment soaring.
And the media, one largely independent, has become more pliant to Modi’s will with critical voices silenced.
Many watchdogs have now categorised India as a "hybrid regime" that is neither a full democracy nor a full autocracy.
