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.
Lawyer says 250-foot Trump arch disrupts historic sightlines cherished by veterans seeking burial at Arlington
Blue States with Powerful Teachers’ Unions Have Far Worse Reading Scores for Students Than Red States with Weak Unions
Republicans fear they have little to offer voters as Congress leaves town
China Throws Its Weight Around in America’s Backyard Over Taiwan Backing
Who is Bert Mizusawa The retired Major General challenging Sen. Mark Warner
A swath of past anti-Trump characters have lost Democratic primary bids
Who is Dario Amodei, the Anthropic CEO pushing independent AI oversight?
Dem’s data center attack in critical Senate race hits snag when money trail surfaces: ‘Jekyll-and-Hyde’
Kirk family has powerful evidence — but Utah law could derail wrongful death case: experts
High School Football Team Shines ‘the Light of Jesus’ by Giving Every Opponent a Bible After Games
Which ‘Fake News’ Outlet Will Trump Ban from the White House Next? He Just Dropped Some Major Hints, and It’s Making Them Squirm
Watch: MLB Player Knocked Out Cold in ‘Terrifying Moment’ – Then Medics Manage to Make Things Worse
Why the House let out early is a matter of debate after Johnson says chamber has ‘done its work’
DOJ Declares it Will No Longer Enforce Two Gun-Control Statutes That Are ‘Inconsistent with the Second Amendment’
Vance calls midterms a referendum on ‘common sense versus pure unadulterated crazy’
___
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.
