India's Modi set to fall short of majority - but claims an early coalition victory

The election looks like it has delivered a huge political upset, ITV News Correspondent Debi Edwards reports from India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed an early election victory for the coalition led by his party - but has failed to secure a majority for his party, the BJP.

The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party will remain the biggest party in Indian parliament, but initial results show it will fall short of the 272 needed to win an outright majority.

In a statement on X, Modi said: "People have placed their faith in NDA, for a third consecutive time! This is a historical feat in India’s history."

Modi will likely need to form a coalition to remain in office after voters turned against his BJP party in an election many observers expected the incumbent to win in a landslide.

This means it will have to rely on its regional allies to form an effective government, together initial results show them having won around 300 seats.

Exit polling from the weekend had projected the National Democratic Alliance, of which Modi's BJP party is part, to win more than 350 seats.

Modi has a comfortable lead over the opposition but faced a tougher challenge from other parties than had been expected.

More than 640 million votes were cast over the last six weeks in what was the world's largest-ever election.

Some 642 million people voted in the election, with a turnout of around 66% across the seven voting phases, official data showed.

Voting took place over six weeks due to its sheer scale, with different phases of voting taking place across different regions.

Around 15 million polling staff and election monitors, as well as the security services, moved between locations, with voters travelling by whatever means necessary to reach voting centres - whether by car, bus, taxi, motorbike, boat, camel, buffalo or on foot.

Extreme heat struck the country as voters went to the polls, with temperatures soaring above 50.5C in some parts of northern India. At least 10 election workers died because of the scorching heat, officials said.

Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said officials had learned a valuable lesson and that the election should have been completed "at least one month before".

“We shouldn't have let it continue into so much heat,” he said.

Temperatures were somewhat lower on Tuesday for the counting, but election officials and political parties still took precautions, hauling in large quantities of water and installing coolers for people outside the buildings where votes were being tallied and at party headquarters.

As counting got underway, BJP workers outside the party's office in New Delhi performed a Hindu ritual. Supporters at the Congress party headquarters also appeared upbeat and chanted slogans praising Gandhi, the party’s campaign face.

If 73-year-old Modi does win, it would only be the second time an Indian leader has retained power for a third term, after Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the country’s first prime minister when it declared independence in 1947.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know…

Modi has transformed India's political landscape over his decade in power, and his popularity has outstripped that of his party.

“Modi was not just the prime campaigner, but the sole campaigner of this election,” Yamini Aiyar, a public policy scholar, said.

But critics of Modi say that his Hindu-first politics have led to an uptick in intolerance, hate speech and attacks against the country's minorities, especially Muslims.

The country's finances have also become more divided while Modi has been in power.

Stock markets have reached record highs and the country is on track to become the third-largest economy in the world by 2027, but youth unemployment has soared and some say only a small minority of Indians have benefitted from the economic boom.

The finalised result of the general election count is expected later on Tuesday.

Have you heard our new podcast Talking Politics? Every week Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda…