India election results 2024 live: Modi set to become PM for third time as cracks emerge among allies

The BJP won a brute majority of 303 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, in 2019 but managed only 240 this time around.

In Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state which accounts for 80 seats, the party won 62 seats five years ago but was reduced to 33 in this election. The opposition INDIA bloc got 43 seats, with the Samajwadi Party taking 37, a seven-fold increase over the previous election.

Narendra Modi received calls from several world leaders for his third term in office.

He received a congratulatory call from the UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, on Wednesday. Mr Sunak “congratulated the prime minister on the success in the general elections and conveyed best wishes for a historic third term”, a statement from the Indian caretaker prime minister’s office said.

The British leader’s office said in a statement: “The leaders reflected on the strength of the UK-India relationship and agreed that this will continue to grow in the future.

“Both agreed to stay in touch and looked forward to seeing each other at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Italy next week.”

US president Joe Biden also made a phone call to Mr Modi. In a post on X, Mr Biden said: “Congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Democratic Alliance on their victory, and the nearly 650 million voters in this historic election. The friendship between our nations is only growing as we unlock a shared future of unlimited potential.”

Russian leader Vladimir Putin also called Mr Modi and “warmheartedly congratulated Narendra Modi on the success of the BJP in the general parliamentary elections that finished a few days ago”.

A statement from the Kremlin added: “This reflects the support of the political course pursued by the Indian leadership, recognition of the results achieved in the country’s socioeconomic development, and its strengthening international authority.”

Concerns over a rise in Islamophobia and the erosion of democracy remain, but having to rule within a coalition will severely limit what Narendra Modi can do in the next five years. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports:

In a potential sign of cracks already emerging among Modi’s coalition partners, the allied party Janata Dal (United) has reportedly asked the ruling BJP to modify its controversial Agniveer scheme – a military recruitment reform creating short-term, US-style “tours of duty” launched last year by the government.

JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi told Aaj Tak news channel: “The Agniveer scheme has been heavily criticised since its introduction, and we saw its impact on elections, too. We need to make changes in this new army recruitment.”

He said that a section of voters had been “upset over the scheme” which led to protests across the country when the BJP-led government introduced the scheme.

Mr Tyagi told ANI: “Our party wants those shortcomings which have been questioned by the public to be discussed in detail and removed.”

Under the scheme, unveiled last year, applicants between the ages of 17.5 and 21 will be hired into the three services – navy, air force and army – and employed for a four-year tour similar to systems in the US and UK.Out of all recruits, only 25 per cent will be retained at the end of these contracts, with the rest leaving employment.

Narendra Modi will take his third oath as prime minister of India on 9 June, according to reports.

Earlier, it was understood that he would be taking part in a swearing-in ceremony, formally kicking off his third term, on Saturday 8 June.

India Today, citing unnamed sources, reported that the date has been postponed to Sunday.

It comes as Modi and senior BJP figures are engaged in talks with the party’s allies over the make-up of a coalition government.

Modi must rely on these allies for a majority after his BJP unexpectedly fell short.

A key ally of Modi in the coalition government, N Chandrababu Naidu from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has also postponed his swearing-in ceremony as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh to 12 June instead of 9 June, his spokesperson said.

Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party that emerged as the largest party in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, has blamed the BJP’s weak performance in the state on the injustice done to the people of Ayodhya – where the controversial new Ram Temple is located.

The temple was constructed on the ruins of a medieval mosque that was torn down by a Hindu mob in 1992. Narendra Modi consecrated the temple in a grand ceremony in the run-up to the election in January this year, widely considered the informal launch of his campaign appealing to his Hindu base.

The BJP went on to lose the Faizabad constituency in UP where the Ayodhya Ram temple is located, one of the biggest shocks of Tuesday’s results day.

Speaking with ANI, Mr Yadav said: “The truth is that the BJP would have lost even more seats in Uttar Pradesh. I thank the people of Ayodhya. You would have seen the pain of Ayodhya from time to time. They were not given adequate compensation for their land, injustice was done to them, their land was not acquired at par with the market price, you snatched their land forcibly by slapping false cases against them…you destroyed the poor for a sacred thing. That is why, I think people of Ayodhya and neighbouring areas voted against the BJP.”

The Samajwadi Party won 37 of 80 seats in the state.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau congratulated Narendra Modi on his re-election even as a high-level Canadian parliamentary panel concluded that India was the second biggest foreign threat to Canada after China.

Despite tensions between the two countries, Mr Trudeau’s office wrote on X: “Congratulations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his electoral victory.

Canada stands ready to work with its government to advance the relationship between our nations’ peoples — anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law.”

Meanwhile, the report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), a bipartisan group of MPs and senators in Canada, emerges at a time when India-Canada relations are at an all-time low after Mr Trudeau alleged last year that Indian government agents were involved in the killing of a Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a claim New Delhi dismissed as “absurd”.

Narendra Modi received calls from several world leaders for his third term in office.

He received a congratulatory call from the UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, on Wednesday. Mr Sunak “congratulated the prime minister on the success in the general elections and conveyed best wishes for a historic third term”, a statement from the Indian caretaker prime minister’s office said.

The British leader’s office said in a statement: “The leaders reflected on the strength of the UK-India relationship and agreed that this will continue to grow in the future.

“Both agreed to stay in touch and looked forward to seeing each other at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Italy next week.”

US president Joe Biden also made a phone call to Mr Modi. In a post on X, Mr Biden said: “Congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Democratic Alliance on their victory, and the nearly 650 million voters in this historic election. The friendship between our nations is only growing as we unlock a shared future of unlimited potential.”

Russian leader Vladimir Putin also called Mr Modi and “warmheartedly congratulated Narendra Modi on the success of the BJP in the general parliamentary elections that finished a few days ago”.

A statement from the Kremlin added: “This reflects the support of the political course pursued by the Indian leadership, recognition of the results achieved in the country’s socioeconomic development, and its strengthening international authority.”

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra praised party workers in Uttar Pradesh for not bowing down and for showing “courage” to “fight in the toughest of times”.

In a post on X, Ms Gandi Vadra wrote: “My salute to all my colleagues of UP Congress. I saw you working hard in the sun and dust, you did not bow down, you did not stop, you showed courage to fight in the toughest of times. You were tortured, false cases were filed against you, you were put in jail, you were repeatedly put under house arrest but you did not get scared. Many leaders left in fear, you remained firm.

“I am proud of you and the conscious people of UP, who understood the depth and truth of this country and gave a strong message to the whole of India to save our Constitution.

“You have reestablished an old ideal in today’s politics – that public issues are paramount, the price of ignoring them is heavy. Elections are of the public, it is the public who fights and it is the public who wins.”

The swearing-in of Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh has been postponed from 9 June to 12 June.

Mr Naidu will be attending Narendra Modi’s swearing-in as prime minister of India on 8 June.

TDP spokesperson K Pattabhi Ram said Mr Naidu wants to avoid having to rush back to Amaravati immediately after the big event in New Delhi.

“He will be sworn in most likely on 12 June. Chandrababu will be in Delhi on 7 June for the NDA parliamentary party meeting and will attend the swearing-in on June 8. He will return to Amaravati a day after that and will be sworn in on 12 June,’’ party spokesperson Pattabhi Ram said.