*ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan felicitated his Indian counterpartNarendra Modi on winning another five-year term after a landslide victoryin general election** on Thursday.*
“I congratulate Prime Minister Modi on the electoral victory of BJP andallies. Look forward to working with him for peace, progress and prosperityin South Asia,” he tweeted.
linkImran Khan✔@ImranKhanPTIlinklink
I congratulate Prime Minister Modi on the electoral victory of BJP andallies. Look forward to working with him for peace, progress and prosperityin South Asia
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The tweet came after India’s counting of hundreds of millions of votes inits general election on Thursday showed a coalition led by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s party taking an early lead.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Modi’s Hindu nationalistBharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is expected to surpass the 272 seats neededto command a majority in the lower house of parliament.
Official data from India’s Election Commission showed the BJP ahead in 324seats, with the main opposition Congress Party ahead in 107. Thenon-aligned parties clinched 111 seats. There are 542 seats available.
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Trends are expected to be known by noon and final results are due byThursday evening.
The NDA’s predicted margin of victory is larger than surveys indicated inthe run-up to the vote, when most polls showed it would be the largestalliance but would fall short of an overall majority.
Modi was under pressure when he began campaigning, losing three stateelections in December amid rising anger over farm prices and unemployment.
However, campaigning shifted towards India’s relationship withnuclear-armed rival Pakistan after a suicide car bomb killed 40 Indianpolice in the contested Kashmir region in February, to the benefit of theright-wing BJP, analysts said.
“National security became the discussion,” said Harsh Pant, a politicalanalyst at the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi. “Itallowed the BJP to shirk some issues where it was weak.”
The BJP has also capitalized on the star power of Modi, a freneticcampaigner, as well as superior financial resources.
