Who is Narendra Modi and what will he do with his third term as India's leader?

By Connor Parker, ITV News Producer

India's Narendra Modi has claimed victory in the general election but it is not the result he wanted.

For the first time since coming to power ten years ago Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not control a majority in the Indian parliament, securing 240 seats well short of the 272 needed to form a government.

The result has shocked India with exit polls showing the BJP was on course for a comfortable majority.

Modi, 73, entered the race with confidence and set the target of his party winning 370 seats.

The BJP is the leader of a wider alliance called the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and they have secured 294 seats, enough to form a coalition.

But Modi's famous go-it-alone risk-taking political style will be changed by his need to work in coalition with other parties, something he has never done in his 20-year political career.

Despite the gloomy headlines for Modi since the outcome of the election, his place at the top is still secure and he looks to become only the second prime minister to win a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first post-independence leader.

Who is Narendra Modi?

Modi was born into a family of grocers in Vadnagar in Gujarat and claimed he spent his early years selling tea with his brother.

He has made much of the fact he is not from any of India's political dynasties that have been influential in the country's post-independence history.

Modi married when he was 17 but left his wife soon and has not remarried.

The only figure in his family he has ever been associated with while a politician has been his mother who died aged 99 in 2022.

After spending his early career working in the BJP he rose to national prominence when he became the chief minister of Gujarat in 2001, an office he would hold until 2014.

During this time the BJP solidified itself as the second party of India behind Congress.

Gujarat was a turbulent place in the early 2000s with many anti-Islam riots led by the Hindu majority that left thousands dead.

Allegations that he was involved in the 2002 Gujarat riots left him unpopular in the West and led to both the UK and US denying him a visa.

Over time, Modi has solidified himself as the face of Hindu nationalism in Gujarat winning back-to-back elections.

He was also associated with sponsoring several large infrastructure projects in the state that helped lift many out of poverty.

Riding high on his local popularity he was selected as the BJP candidate for prime minister in the 2014 general election, which he won by a landslide.

His victory upended the Congress-led political regime that had dominated much of India's post-independence history.

In his 10 years in power, Modi has transformed India’s political landscape.

His popularity has outstripped that of his party and has turned a parliamentary election into one that increasingly resembles a presidential-style campaign.

The result is that the BJP relies more and more on Modi’s enduring brand to stay in power, with local politicians receding into the background even in state elections.

This turn to presidential-style governance has come with accusations of authoritarianism with opposition parties in the recent elections accusing the government of overly vigorous anti-corruption drives.

These raids on opposition parties have seen many leaders arrested or put under investigation.

He has also been accused of clamping down on free speech, with the government banning a BBC documentary that was critical of Modi from being aired in the country last year.

His supporters see him as a self-made, strong leader who has improved India’s standing in the world, and credit his pro-business policies with making the economy the world’s fifth-largest.

But his critics loathe him for his Hindu nationalism. During his time in power Muslims have been subjected to violence, and treated like second-class citizens.

In election speeches, the prime minister has referred to Muslims as "infiltrators" who have "many children". He even described a vote for the opposition Congress party as "vote jihad".

Roughly 204,000,000 Muslims live in India, making it the third most populous Islamic country in the world, but this enormous minority is dwarfed by the country's nearly one billion Hindus.

Critics have also pointed out that India’s economy, one of the fastest-growing, has become more unequal under Modi.

While stock markets reach record-highs and millionaires multiply, youth unemployment has soared, with only a small portion of Indians benefitting from the economic boom.

What does he hope to do with his third term?

With Modi looking set to become the next prime minister, even if without the majority he hoped, he has promised to continue the mission of his previous ten years.

The BJP manifesto offered guarantees that India will become the third-largest economy in the world, maintaining high growth and investment in major infrastructure projects.

Modi has also continued to press on with plans to open Hindu temples at controversial sites considered sacred to Muslims.

He has also announced plans for a uniform civil code across the whole country, a move some Muslims say will curb centuries-old religious practices they have enjoyed at a regional level.

Modi will also have to come up with plans to deal with pressing issues crippling some parts of the sub-continent.

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Climate change is becoming pressing for the Indian government.

On the final weekend of the election, Modi was enjoying his post-election meditation in a cool coastal temple, more than 50 people - including 33 election workers - died due to heatstroke.

The capital Delhi is currently enduring an acute water shortage with many relying on daily lorries of water being brought in from elsewhere.

Every year for the past few years adverse weather conditions far outside of normal ranges have impacted farms across the country lowering crucial crop yields.

This in turn has led to high food prices and high inflation which has upset many.