Modi's BJP-led alliance to win India elections, exit polls project

New Delhi (Reuters): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance is projected to win a majority in the general election that concluded on Saturday, an exit poll summary by the NDTV news channel said.

The summary of two exit polls projected the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could win more than 350 seats in the 543-member lower house of parliament, where 272 is needed for a simple majority.

The NDA won 353 seats in the 2019 election.

The opposition "INDIA" alliance led by Rahul Gandhi's Congress party was projected to win more than 120 seats.

Exit polls have a patchy record in India as they have often got election outcomes wrong, with analysts saying it is a challenge to get them right in the large and diverse country.

The opposition has dismissed exit polls, and ahead of their publication had called them "prefixed".

Several other TV channels are due to project their exit poll numbers later on Saturday.

Nearly one billion people were eligible to vote in the seven-phase election that began on April 19 and was held in scorching summer heat in many parts.

The Election Commission will count votes on June 4 and results are expected the same day.

A victory for Modi, 73, will make him only the second prime minister after independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru to win three consecutive terms.

Modi began his re-election campaign by focusing on his achievements over the last 10 years but soon switched to mostly targeting the Congress by accusing it of favouring India's minority Muslims, which the opposition party denies.

Pre-poll surveys said the BJP would easily keep its majority in the election. But the party ran into a spirited campaign by the "INDIA" alliance, sowing some doubt about how close the race might be.

The opposition has largely campaigned on affirmative action programmes and saving the constitution from what they call Modi's dictatorial rule, an allegation the BJP denies.

Scorching summer temperatures with unusually severe heat waves, have compounded voter fatigue, with at least 33 people killed by suspected heatstroke, including nearly two dozen election officials. Temperatures reached 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in many voting areas on Saturday.

Unemployment and inflation are the main concerns for voters in the majority-Hindu country of 1.4 billion people, surveys have said.