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Narenda Modi Is India's Next Leader

A after a long day of tallying following a full month of voting, India's general results are in, and the opposition led by Narendra Modi has won a commanding majority.

By Brian Feldman
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A after a long day of tallying following a full month of voting, India's general results are in, and the opposition led by Narendra Modi has won a commanding majority.

According to Reuters, Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and allies (altogether as the National Democratic Alliance) are leading in races for 337 of 543 available parliamentary seats, more than six times the number of their next cloest rival. It looks to be the most lopsided election victory in India in more than 30 years.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party campaign, was leading his race by a slim margin, and a loss there would be particularly embarrassing considering that the seat he is running for has been held by his uncle, father, and mother before him — all former titans of Indian politics.The Economist notes that, “Newspapers report that Rahul Gandhi left the country earlier this week, which looked not only like an admission of defeat but an abdication of responsibility (he has since returned).”

Despite votes count still not being, a Congress spokesman is talking about spending the next five years of the government in the minority. According to the Wall Street Journal, this election marks “the first time since 1984 that a single political party [the BJP] has won a majority of the seats in the country’s lower house of Parliament.” The party officially conceded on Friday evening.

Modi’s win brings hope of a number of reforms to India. From The Washington Post:

Modi promised a new India, with an efficient government free of corruption. He pledged to build bullet trains, hydroelectric power plants, manufacturing hubs and dozens of cities, enabling India to rival China, the economic powerhouse next door. A lover of technology, Modi even addressed several rallies as a holographic image.

India’s stock markets have rallied with their biggest gains in years as Modi’s victory becomes more and more assured. As of 9:52 a.m. in Mumbai on Friday, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index (Sensex) had jumped as much as 6.1 percent. Since Modi became the BJP’s candidate last September, the Sensex has risen 28 percent.

According to Twitter, Modi's tweet above, declaring victory, is the most retweeted tweet in Indian history.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.