NEW DELHI – The Latest on India’s general election (all times local):
7:15 p.m.
Voting in India’s mammoth national election has ended with the seventh and final phase of a grueling poll that lasted more than five weeks, with exit polls predicting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party and its allies will win the right to govern for another five years.
Vote counting begins on Thursday, and the election result will likely be known the same day.
Exit polls by two leading television news channels, Republic and TimesNow, projected a victory for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies with 287 to 305 seats out of 543 — far ahead of the 272 seats needed to form the next government.
The election is seen as a referendum on Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP’s main opposition is the Congress party, led by Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has produced three prime ministers.
Trump reveals Iran made ‘significant proposal’ after ultimatum, but ‘not good enough’
Watch: Savannah Guthrie Returns to ‘Today’ Show, Pays Tribute to Missing Mother with Outfit
American woman missing after husband says she fell overboard, swept to sea during Bahamas boat trip: police
Power Company Faces Legal Fight For Making Too Much Energy
Newsom’s California rail project now expected to cost $126B, official admits, with still no tracks laid
Israel hits South Pars natural gas field as Trump deadline looms
Children of Illegal Aliens Linked to Attempted Bombing at U.S. Air Force Base
Martinez: Why President Trump’s War On Fraud Exposes National Scandal
Ceasefire proposal could reopen key oil route amid US-Iran tensions and more top headlines
Behind ‘No Kings’ St. Paul protest: $250K production machine equal to a Def Leppard concert
Lindsey Graham turns ire toward rivals at home amid Iran and DHS shutdown fallout
Iranian intelligence chief and militia commander among those killed in Israeli strikes
President Trump makes endorsement in California gubernatorial race: ‘He will be a GREAT Governor’
GOP races to pass ICE, Border Patrol funding bill as priorities pile up, divisions emerge
Why the Strait of Hormuz matters as Trump issues fresh ultimatum to Iran
___
7:30 a.m.
Indians are voting in the seventh and final phase of national elections, wrapping up a 6-week-long long, grueling campaign season with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party seeking reelection for another five years.
The voting on Sunday also covers Modi’s constituency of Varanasi, a holy Hindu city where he was elected in 2014.
The election is seen as a referendum on Modi’s five-year rule. He has adopted a nationalist pitch in trying to win votes from the country’s Hindu majority by projecting a tough stance against Pakistan, India’s Muslim-majority neighbor and archrival.
The Congress and other opposition parties are challenging him over a high unemployment rate of 6.1% and farmers’ distress aggravated by low crop prices.
Counting of votes is scheduled for May 23.
Story cited here.
