ASHOK SHARMA
Associated Press
NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi appeared headed for a landslide win Friday as results began pouring in from the country’s massive general election, with early trends suggesting Modi’s party will easily push out the long-dominant Congress party.
The Election Commission was expected to announce full results later Friday. But early trends suggested that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party would earn enough parliamentary seats to create a government without forming a coalition with regional leaders.
At BJP headquarters in New Delhi, workers were handing out sweets, setting off firecrackers and dancing in the streets outside. BJP spokeswoman Nirmala Seetharaman said the results were even better than expected.
“That certainly is good news, which we will savor with great delight,” she said. “It means that people of India found the (connection) with Narendra Modi.”
There was a record turnout in the election, with 66.38 percent of India’s 814 million eligible voters casting ballots during the six-week contest, which began April 7 and was held in stages across the country. Turnout in the 2009 general election was 58.13 percent.
Campaigning on promises of a revival in economic growth, Modi and the BJP were looking to take advantage of widespread dissatisfaction with the Congress party.
The BJP’s slick and well-financed campaign also promised better governance. The Congress-led ruling alliance has been plagued by repeated corruption scandals, and the Congress party’s 43-year-old leader, Rahul Gandhi, appeared to have failed to inspire public confidence.
Exit polls by at least six major Indian TV stations predicted a BJP-led coalition would win between 249 and 289 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha, or lower house of Parliament. A party or coalition needs at least 272 seats to form a government.
According to the Election Commission, early vote counting for 444 seats showed the BJP ahead in 257 seats and the Congress in 45. The rest were divided among a handful of smaller parties.
If BJP crosses the 272-mark, it would be the first time a single party has won a majority since the 1984 national election.
Two of the BJP’s declared allies, the Shiv Sena and the Shiromani Akali Dal, were also leading in 13 and five seats, respectively, which took the lead for the BJP-led alliance to 275 seats.
By Friday afternoon, an exact picture was expected to emerge on what India’s next Parliament will look like.
If the results are in line with the exit polls and the early trends and the BJP and its allies win a clear majority, India’s stock markets are likely to see a major upswing. Already on Friday, the Sensex stock index rose as much as 4.7 percent on news of the BJP’s strong showing.
The Nehru-Gandhi family, which has ruled India for all but 10 years since the country won independence from British rule in 1947, is facing its biggest political drubbing in 10 years. The Congress party attempted to position Rahul Gandhi as a young leader capable of boosting the country’s struggling economy, but most Indians see him as being out of touch with reality. His privileged background has made him appear aloof and removed from the concerns of most Indians.
In comparison, Modi’s campaign was seen by many as a media and marketing coup for a man whose background ties him to bloodshed in his home state of Gujarat, where communal rioting in 2002 left more than 1,000 people dead, most of them Muslims. Modi is accused of doing little to stop the rampage, though he denies any wrongdoing and has never been charged with a crime.
He managed to hammer away at Gandhi — specifically the perception that he is nothing more than a feudal prince from a family that views ruling the country as its birthright.
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