After a month and a half of democratic marathon in India, an exit poll on Saturday gives a large majority to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Thus, Modi would be on the verge of winning a third term at the head of the country.
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With our correspondent in India, Como Bastin
Overall, early studies point to a large victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition of Narendra Modi with at least 300 seats, more than the majority of 272 needed to choose the next prime minister. Narendra Modi said on Saturday “ confident » in his renewal for a third consecutive term, at the end of marathon six-week legislative elections.
According to the CNN-News18 investigation, his BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) party and its allies are expected to obtain at least 355 seats in the lower house of Parliament. In the past, these projections have not always been reliable.
First big surprise, Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party BJP could win a few MPs in southern India. Two possible MPs in Tamil Nadu or the communist-ruled state of Kerala. It’s not much, but the symbolism is strong because these states are considered impregnable for the BJP.
What everyone is waiting for is to have specific trends for large northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Maharashtra, which each weigh between 40 and 80 seats. These are traditionally states favored by the BJP and the opposition must score points there at all costs.
These are not results, but estimates, a perilous exercise after these giant elections where nearly 1 billion voters were called to the polls, the official results on Tuesday June 4 once the votes of 573 constituencies have been added.
The vote, which began six weeks ago, ended on Saturday with the closing of polling stations in the sacred city of Varanasi, stronghold of Hinduism and Mr. Modi.
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