Celebrations as BJP claims India election win

(23 May 2019) Celebrations continued outside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) offices across India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party showed a commanding lead in the general election.
Modi's party has claimed it won reelection in Thursday's vote count.
Election Commission data by mid-afternoon showed the BJP leading in contests for 299 out of 542 seats in the lower house of Parliament, with its main rival, the Indian National Congress, ahead in 50 contests.
The data didn't indicate what percentage of the estimated 600 million votes cast over the six-week election had been counted.
Although the final tally was not expected until Thursday evening at the earliest, BJP President Amit Shah claimed a victory.
In West Bengal, celebrations by Trinamool Congress Party supporters erupted as trends showed them leading BJP overall in the state.
The election has been seen as a referendum on Modi, whose economic reforms have had mixed results but whose popularity as a social underdog in India's highly stratified society has endured.

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