AFP, New Delhi :
Indian voter Salona Haldar © shows her ink-marked finger as she holds her baby after casting her vote at a polling station in a village on the outskirts of Amritsar on 19 May. Photo: AFPExit polls from India’s marathon election showed an “overwhelming” vote in favour of a new term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his party said Monday as shares and the Indian currency surged on expectations of a new term.
While opposition parties refused to give in and the country faces a nerve-jangling three day wait until the official count begins, most media polls said Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies would secure enough seats to form a new government after the world’s biggest election. The seven rounds of voting over six weeks ended on Sunday with about 65 percent of the 900 eligible voters taking part, the election commission said.
Modi, who fought an acrimonious campaign framed around his tough national security stance, and other top BJP leaders made no immediate claim of victory.
The nationalist leader spent the weekend at a retreat in the Himalayas. He posted a Twitter picture of himself in a Hindu saffron robe looking out over the mountains.
Party spokesman G.V.L. Narasimha Rao said however the polls “clearly show a huge positive vote for the leadership of Narendra Modi who has served the country with unmatched dedication”.
“That people reward good performance has once again been proved by the overwhelming public mandate. This is a slap for the abusive opposition that made baseless charges and spoke lies,” he added.
The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex Index surged 2.69 per cent in morning trading while the Indian rupee strengthened to 69.54 per dollar from its Friday close of 70.22. “The markets are happy that the same government with Modi at the helm may come back and there is no political uncertainty. The BJP and Modi are seen as pro-business and pro-reform,” Ashutosh Datar, a Mumbai-based economist, told AFP.
