Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

India awaits results from world's biggest election

India began Thursday (23) the mammoth process of counting the roughly 600 million votes cast in the world's biggest election, with results due later in the day.

Exit polls had pointed to a victory for prime minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist government, but the opposition are clinging to hopes of a win.


After an exercise not short of staggering statistics, the votes cast in purportedly the world's most expensive democratic exercise -- costing more than $7 billion, experts say -- were set to be counted in just one day.

If there is a clear trend, this should be evident by around midday (0630 GMT). But if the result is close India's 1.3 billion people may have to wait a lot longer to know the outcome.

In 2014 Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power with 282 seats in the 545-seat parliament, the first time a single party had won a majority in 30 years.

It then cobbled together an alliance with 334 seats, and exit polls suggested the coalition this time will win anywhere between 282 and 313, enough to remain in power even at the lower end.

However Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party, hoping to become the fourth member of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty to lead India, on Wednesday dismissed the projections.

"Don't get disappointed by the propaganda of fake exit polls," Gandhi, 48, told the party faithful on Twitter.

Indian exit polls are notoriously unreliable. In 2004 they pointed to a BJP victory but the results told a different story, bringing a Congress-led government to power.

Results in several regions such as Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state which formed the core of Modi's support in 2014, and West Bengal in the east, will be key.

The vast size of India stretching from the Himalayas to the Tropics, taking in polluted megacities, deserts and jungles, meant the election stretched over six weeks.

The campaign was awash with insults -- Modi was likened to Hitler and a "gutter insect" -- as well as fake news disseminated on social media in Facebook and WhatsApp's biggest markets.

Gandhi, 48, tried several lines of attack against Modi, in particular over alleged corruption in a French defence deal and over the desperate plight of farmers and the lacklustre economy.

Unemployment is reported to be at a four-decade high with Asia's third-biggest economy growing too slowly to create jobs for the million Indians entering the labour market every month.

Modi's shock cash ban in 2016 -- not even his cabinet were informed before his televised address to the nation -- disrupted livelihoods.

Foreign investment has however increased.

Modi is also seen as divisive. Lynchings of Muslims and low-caste Dalits for eating beef, slaughtering and trading in cattle have risen, leaving some of the country's 170 million Muslims anxious for their future.

Vinod Bansal, a spokesman for the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), told AFP he wants a "complete ban" on the slaughter of cows, sacred to most Hindus.

But Modi, 68, managed deftly to turn the election into a referendum on his rule while depicting himself, often in the third person, as the only one able to defend India.

In this he was given a major boost when a suicide bombing, claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group, killed 40 Indian paratroopers in Indian-administered Kashmir on February 14.

Doubts abound about the efficacy of India's subsequent air strikes on Pakistan, but the action enabled Modi to style himself the "chowkidar" ("watchman") with the 56-inch chest.

"Wherever the terror groups and perpetrators may hide, our security forces will flush them out and punish them," he thundered. "Every drop of blood of our slain soldiers shall be avenged."

(AFP)

More For You

Court to review teen's sentence in Bhim Kohli case
Bhim Kohli

Court to review teen's sentence in Bhim Kohli case

THE seven-year prison sentence handed to a 15-year-old boy convicted of the manslaughter of 80-year-old Bhim Sen Kohli is to be reviewed under the UK’s Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme.

The Attorney General’s Office confirmed on Friday (5) that the teenager’s sentence will now be considered by the Court of Appeal.

Keep ReadingShow less
Dalai Lama hopes to live 'beyond 130 years'

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama attends a prayer meet held for his long life at the Dalai Lama temple in the northern hill town of Dharamshala, India, July 5, 2025. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

Dalai Lama hopes to live 'beyond 130 years'

THE Dalai Lama said on Saturday (5) he hopes to live until he is more than 130 years old, two decades longer than his previous prediction, following his assurance to followers that he would reincarnate as the spiritual head of the faith upon his death.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner was speaking during a ceremony organised by his followers to offer prayers for his long life, ahead of his 90th birthday on Sunday (6), and as China insists it will choose his successor. The Dalai Lama told Reuters in December he might live to 110.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK heatwave by mid-July

Daytime temperatures meeting or exceeding set thresholds of 25°C

iStock

Met Office warns of potential third UK heatwave by mid-July

Key points

  • Met Office forecasts rising temperatures by mid-July
  • Possible third heatwave after record-breaking June
  • High pressure system likely to bring hot air from the Atlantic
  • Yellow rain warning and flood alerts issued in parts of Scotland and Cumbria

Possible heatwave to return by mid-July

The UK could experience its third heatwave in a month by mid-July, the Met Office has said. Forecasters expect rising heat and humidity during the second weekend of July, following two weekends of unusually warm weather in late June.

June was officially the hottest on record in England, and the return of high temperatures could mean another heatwave for parts of the country. However, the Met Office cautioned that it is too early to confirm how hot conditions will get.

Keep ReadingShow less
crypto

Two men have been jailed for defrauding investors of £1.5 million through a fake crypto investment scheme. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Two jailed over £1.5m crypto investment scam

TWO people who duped investors of £1.5 million by selling fake investments in crypto have been jailed for 12 years, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said.

Raymondip Bedi, of Bromley, and Patrick Mavanga, of Peckham, conned at least 65 people by cold-calling them between February 2017 and June 2019. They operated companies including CCX Capital and Astaria Group LLP.

Keep ReadingShow less
Manchester Police probes over 1,000 child sexual abuse suspects

Photo for representation. (iStock)

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Manchester Police probes over 1,000 child sexual abuse suspects

GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE is now investigating more than 1,000 child sexual abuse suspects, following years of public criticism and institutional failings in tackling child sexual exploitation.

A new report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has revealed the force has made “significant improvements” in dealing with group-based sexual abuse and related crimes.

Keep ReadingShow less