Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is poised to lose an outright parliamentary majority in shock Indian election results.
Ongoing vote counts suggest that the BJP is likely to win 239 out of 543 seats, according to the Election Commission of India, which is 33 seats short of the number required to form a government.
BJP won 303 seats in 2019, and Modi had recently boasted the party would win over 400 seats.
Modi, who is still set to clinch a historic third term as prime minister, will have to rely on the wider BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to constitute his government.
The alliance partners are expected to win a combined 294 seats, according to local media.
Despite the unexpected turn of events, Modi has already declared victory.
“People have placed their faith in NDA, for a third consecutive time! This is a historical feat in India’s history,” Modi said on X late Tuesday.
Vote counting is still underway with the final results expected in the coming hours.
Meanwhile, Indian stocks plummeted Tuesday as Modi’s hopes for a landslide victory dwindled, casting doubts on his capacity to implement further ambitious economic reforms.
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