China, Ukraine and other countries congratulated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday as his government began preparations for a record-breaking third term in office After the world's largest democratic election.
Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party plans to meet with allies later on Wednesday to discuss government formation.
Official results from the Election Commission showed the BJP-led National League for Democracy won 294 of 543 seats, more than the 272 needed for a majority but well below expectations. It was the first time the BJP failed to secure a majority on its own since it came to power in 2014, winning 240 seats, well below the record 303 seats it won in the 2019 general election.
Modi met Indian President Dhruvānīyya Drupadi Murmu on Wednesday and tendered his resignation along with his cabinet members as is customary, ahead of a swearing-in ceremony expected in a few days.
“The President has accepted the resignation and has asked Narendra Modi and the Council of Ministers to continue in office till the new government is inaugurated,” the President's Office said in a statement.
Leaders of regional countries such as Nepal and Bhutan first sent congratulatory messages to Modi, and the White House also praised India's “vibrant democratic process.”
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning congratulated the BJP on Wednesday.
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She said: “A healthy and stable China-India relationship is in the interests of both countries and is conducive to peace and development in the region and the world.” She also said that China is willing to work together with India based on the fundamental interests of the two countries.
Relations between India and China remain tense, with tens of thousands of troops massing along the two countries' disputed border since 2020. The clashes left 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he looked forward to India's participation in a peace summit hosted by Switzerland.
“Everyone in the world realizes the importance and weight of India in global affairs. We must work together to ensure a just peace for all nations,” he said.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said he looks forward to expanding cooperation in trade, technology and other areas to contribute to peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
The opposition Congress won 99 seats, up from 52 in the 2019 election. Among its main allies, the Samajwadi Party won 37 seats in northern Uttar Pradesh, a big blow to the BJP, the Trinamool Congress won 29 seats in West Bengal and the Dravidian Progressive Alliance won 22 seats in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The opposition Indian Alliance won a total of 232 seats.
Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the BJP is now likely to be “heavily dependent on the goodwill of its allies, which makes the allies key players from whom we can expect to extract benefits in terms of policy making and government formation”.
“At the very least, the election results have burst the bubble of authority of Prime Minister Modi, who had seen this election as a fight against himself,” political commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta wrote in The Indian Express. “Now, he is just another politician who has been disparaged by the people.”
The six-week marathon election was the world's largest democratic exercise, with more than 640 million votes cast.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
