The BJP stormed back to power with a bigger mandate than 2014, thanks to the popularity and the campaign fervour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While the Congress has conceded defeat with the party chief Rahul Gandhi saying “I accept the verdict of the people of India,” PM Modi termed his party's victory as the India and democracy. Addressing a group of party supporters at the BJP headquarters in the national capital, the prime minister said he dedicates this victory to people.
Earlier, taking to Twitter, Modi thanked the people of the nation for placing faith in the NDA. “Thank you India! The faith placed in our alliance is humbling and gives us strength to work even harder to fulfil people's aspirations. I salute every BJP Karyakarta for their determination, perseverance & hardwork. They went home to home, elaborating on our development agenda.
The people of India became Chowkidars and rendered great service to the nation. Chowkidar has become a powerful symbol to safeguard India from the evils of casteism, communalism, corruption and cronyism
Now, the time has come to take the Chowkidar Spirit to the next level. Keep this spirit alive at every moment and continue working for India’s progress. The word ‘Chowkidar’ goes from my Twitter name but it remains an integral part of me. Urging you all to do the same too”, he said in a series of tweets.
World leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, congratulated the PM for the victory.
The Lok Sabha elections took place across the country in seven phases. The counting began at 8 am.
The polls were conducted between April 11 and May 19 during which people exercised their franchise to elect 542 members of the Lok Sabha from a total of 8,049 contestants.
In the 2014 elections, the BJP won 282 seats while the Congress had suffered a severe drubbing, getting an all-time low of 44 seats as against 206 it won in 2009.