Modi Loses Majority in Stunning Election Setback, but Is Set to Keep Power in India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to keep power for a third term even after voters dealt the Hindu nationalist a stunning setback by denying him an outright majority following an election dominated by high unemployment and inflation.

Modi would be only the second leader after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister, to return to power for a third straight term. Official results show the BJP winning around 240 seats. It won 303 seats in 2019.

Modi, speaking in the evening local time, didn’t acknowledge the upset and claimed a historic victory. “In our third term, the country will write a new chapter of big decisions,” he said. “This is Modi’s guarantee.”

The opposition hasn’t conceded defeat. The Congress party, which ruled India for decades but had seen its popularity plunge in recent years, was set to nearly double its seat count compared with the last general election. Its opposition alliance gained well over 200 seats, far surpassing the performance of the opposition bloc it led five years ago.

India’s stock markets plunged on Tuesday, after closing at record highs on Monday due to exit polls that predicted a landslide win for Modi, who had pledged to make India the world’s third-largest economy in his third term. Modi has sought to boost manufacturing in India, and convinced Apple suppliers to invest in the country. These efforts aren’t creating enough jobs for India’s young people.

There were early hints that the BJP was worried about low voter turnout amid a record-setting heat wave searing much of India. Modi began his campaign touting his economic record, but quickly pivoted to attacking Muslims and painting the opposition Congress party as pro-Muslim. In an April speech, he called Muslims “infiltrators” and “those who have too many children.”

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