India’s BJP poised for big poll victory
Main opposition party headed by Narendra Modi far ahead of ruling Congress party, according to early results.
India’s Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is on track to win parliamentary elections, making huge gains over the ruling Congress party, early results show.
Narendra Modi, the BJP’s leader, will most likely be the next prime minister of India, with early results on Friday showing his party headed for the biggest victory the country has seen in 30 years.
Partial results showed the BJP winning more than the 272 seats required for a majority on its own in the 543-seat parliament, with victories by its allies taking it easily in excess of 300.
Modi, the 63-year-old son of a low-caste tea seller tainted by anti-Muslim violence in his home state of Gujarat in 2002, wrote on Twitter that “India has won. Good days are coming”.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called Modi to congratulate him on the victory, Singh’s office said in a Tweet.
The stunning results exceeded all forecasts. Firecrackers exploded at BJP offices around the country and sweets were handed out in celebrations that began only a few hours after the first figures filtered out.
“This is the beginning of change, a people’s revolution and the start of a new era,” senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar told AFP news agency at party headquarters in New Delhi.
Congress faces rout
The Congress party, that has run India for all but 13 years since independence, was set to crash to its worst ever result after a decade in power.
Shakil Ahmed, a Congress party spokesman, told the Associated Press on Friday that trends from the official vote counting were “certainly not” in his party’s favour.
The election commission was expected to announce full results later in the day. But early trends suggested that the BJP would earn enough parliamentary seats to create a government without forming a coalition with regional leaders.
Al Jazeera’s Sohail Rahman, reporting from New Delhi, said that final results were expected in 10am GMT.
He said that while Modi would be watching the results from his home state Gujarat, while Congress’ Rahul Gandhi had been “missing” from the public eye.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera’s Anmol Saxena , Nidhi Dutt , Baba Umar and Vijay Bedi have been posting on Twitter about the elections, and early celebrations at BJP headquarters.
There was a record turnout in the elections, with 66.38 percent of the 814 million eligible voters casting ballots during several stages of the six-week ballot. Turnout in the 2009 elections was 58.13 percent.
There is widespread dissatisfaction with the ruling Congress Party, which has been plagued by repeated corruption scandals.
The BJP made promises of economic growth and better governance in a well-financed campaign.
