India election 2024: Live updates as vote counting gets underway

22 days ago

The Associated Press

Live India election 2024: Live updates as vote counting gets underway

INDIA election 2024 result - Figure 1 — Photo The Associated Press

India began counting more than 640 million votes Tuesday in the world’s largest democratic exercise, which was widely expected to return Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a third term after a decade in power. (AP/Shonal Ganguly)

Edited By YIRMIYAN ARTHUR and MALLIKA SEN

Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]

Vote counting is underway in India’s 2024 Lok Sabha election. Results in the world’s largest election could also be among its most consequential; voters are choosing 543 members for the lower house of Parliament for a five-year term.

Here’s what to know:

When will results be announced?: The vote counting will be updated throughout the day, with the first results expected in the afternoon local time. Who is running?: The election pits Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an avowed Hindu nationalist, against a broad alliance of opposition parties that are struggling to play catch up.What’s at stake?: For decades, India has clung doggedly to its democratic convictions, largely due to free elections, an independent judiciary, a thriving media, strong opposition and peaceful transition of power. Some of these credentials have eroded under Modi’s 10-year rule, with the polls seen as a test for the country’s democratic values.

Flashback to India’s first general elections

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Voters receive ballots from polling station officials in a rural Delhi state village in India around Dec. 14, 1951. The voting in India’s first General Election began this month (December) and will continue until February. Due to high illiteracy levels the voters are given blank ballot papers which they place in boxes counter marked with symbols to represent each party. (AP Photo)

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Indian voters crowd around a candidate canvassing for a Delhi State Assemble race in a rural Delhi state village around Dec. 14, 1951. It is India’s first General Election and voting began this month and will run until February next year. (AP Photo)

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Veiled Muslim women prepare to cast their vote in a booth in central Calcutta, India on Jan. 22, 1952, where 26 members are to be elected to the West Bengal Assembly and four to the National Parliament in New Delhi. Many people are voting for the first time in their lives in the current Indian General Elections. Under the new Indian constitution every adult has a vote irrespective of sex or whether they pay taxes. (AP Photo)

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INDIA election 2024 result - Figure 2 — Photo The Associated Press

India’s first general elections since achieving independence from Britain in 1947 took place from late 1951 through early 1952. Women had suffrage from the start. Due to high illiteracy at the time, voters were given blank ballot papers to place in boxes marked with symbols that represent each party, The Associated Press reported at the time. The Indian National Congress party headed by Jawaharlal Nehru — India’s leader after independence — won by a large margin.

Modi’s BJP is leading comfortably in early vote tallies

Ratan Ranjan, a BJP supporter from Bihar, performs rituals and prayers in front of a cutout of prime minister Narendra Modi outside the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in New Delhi, India. (AP Video: Piyush Nagpal)

Modi’s BJP is leading comfortably in early vote tallies

Early tallies reported Tuesday by India’s Election Commission show incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party comfortably ahead over its closest rival.

Three hours into counting, Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP was ahead in 239 constituencies out of 542 parliamentary seats, and has already won one in an uncontested race.

The main opposition Congress party was leading in 96 constituencies.

The Election Commission does not release data on the percentage of votes tallied, but counting is expected to go on through the day. A total of some 642 million votes are being counted in the world’s largest democratic exercise.

Modi’s party is part of the National Democratic Alliance, whose parties were leading in 286 constituencies according to the early count. The Congress party is part of the INDIA alliance, which was leading in 197 constituencies.

A total of 272 seats are needed for a majority in parliament.

Workers take heat precautions as votes are counted in temperatures expected to reach 106F

Journalists and others rest in front of water coolers and fans set up inside a tent at the Congress party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Temperatures in the Indian capital were down Tuesday from highs in the past week of 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), but election officials and political parties were nonetheless taking precautions as votes were being counted.

Workers carried cases of water into one air-conditioned counting station in New Delhi early in the morning in preparation, while tents outside for security personnel and others were outfitted with industrial evaporative coolers.

Temperatures in the morning hovered around 37 C (99 F) in New Delhi and were expected to rise to 41 C (106 F) by the end of the day.

At the headquarters of the opposition Congress party, a tent was set up outside, equipped with evaporative coolers, for waiting media.

Ride a train through India with the AP

By SHEIKH SAALIQ, MANISH SWARUP, RISHI LEKHI

The AP rode one of the longest trains in India to interview voters about election. Here’s some of what they had to say.

The 22-car Thirukkural Express is a microcosm of India, carrying passengers from different castes and religions, and with wide-ranging ambitions and grievances, on an 1,800-mile (2,900-kilometer) journey south from New Delhi to Kanyakumari. (AP video/Rishi Lekhi)

▶ For more on the 2,900-kilometer (1,800-mile) journey on the Thirukurral Express, see the full project.

Indian women are a key voting bloc with more of them voting in recent elections than ever before.

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Deori tribal women stand in a queue to cast their vote during the first round of polling of India’s national election in Jorhat, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. Nearly 970 million voters will elect 543 members for the lower house of Parliament for five years, during staggered elections that will run until June 1. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

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A woman shows the indelible ink mark on her finger after casting vote in a polling station on the bank of the Brahmaputra river during the second round of voting in the six-week-long national election in Morigaon district, India, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

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Women wait to cast their votes during the first round of polling of India’s national election in Chennai, southern Tamil Nadu state, Friday, April 19, 2024. Nearly 970 million voters will elect 543 members for the lower house of Parliament for five years, during staggered elections that will run until June 1. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

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Tangkhul Nagas stand in a queue to cast their votes in Shangshak village, in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Yirmiyan Arthur)

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Muslims women stand in queues to cast their votes in the seventh and final phase of national elections, in Varanasi, India, Saturday, June 1, 2024. Indians began voting Saturday in the last round of a six-week-long national election that is a referendum on Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decade in power. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

INDIA election 2024 result - Figure 3 — Photo The Associated Press

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People wait to cast their votes during the first round of voting of India’s national election in Behror, Rajasthan state, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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Women stand in queue to vote during the third round of voting in the six-week-long general election in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

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Tangkhul Nagas stand in a queue to cast their votes in Shangshak village, in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Yirmiyan Arthur)

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Tangkhul Nagas stand in a queue to cast their votes in Shangshak village, in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Yirmiyan Arthur)

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People wait to cast their votes during the first round of voting of India’s national election in Behror, Rajasthan state, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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People wait to cast their votes during the first round of voting of India’s national election in Behror, Rajasthan state, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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Women stand in queue to vote during the third round of voting in the six-week-long general election in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

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Women stand in queue to vote during the third round of voting in the six-week-long general election in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Indian women are a key voting bloc with more of them voting in recent elections than ever before.

Most poll experts expect women voters to play a decisive role in determining the 2024 election results. Political parties have been wooing them with monthly cash handouts, subsidized cooking gas cylinders and low-interest loans.

Many such programs have particularly helped Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party widen its support among them, especially in rural areas. The opposition alliance also tried to gain women’s votes by unveiling programs that promised financial aid of $1,200 per year to poor women, and promised to reserve 50% of government jobs for women if voted into power.

Women make up nearly 49% of India’s total electorate. Turnout has grown in each recent major election — of women who were eligible to vote, 53% voted in 2004; 56% in 2009; 65.5% in 2014; and 67% in 2019. Data for 2024 was not yet available still but was estimated to resemble 2019’s female voter turnout.

As votes are tallied, Indian markets open lower after surging the day before

A man walks past a digital board displaying share price information and election results at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Indian markets opened lower Tuesday after closing the night before at all-time highs as exit polling projected a comfortable win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

Modi’s business-friendly policies have won him widespread support among India’s corporations and industry. After a decade in power, Modi was widely expected to win a third five-year term.

In early morning trading India’s benchmark stock indices — the NIFTY 50 and the BSE Sensex — were both down by more than 3% as India’s marathon election entered its final phase with the counting of some 642 million ballots.

The Indian market’s opening dip followed a broader trend in Asian markets, which retreated after a report showed U.S. manufacturing contracted in May in the latest sign the economy is slowing.

Why do the Indian elections take so long?

It boils down to two key reasons: the sheer size of India, the world’s most populous country, and the astonishing level of logistics needed to ensure that every registered voter is able to cast their ballot.

Over the years, the duration of voting has wavered. It took nearly four months to complete the vote in India’s first elections in 1951-1952, after it gained independence from British rule, and just four days in 1980. In 2019, voting took 39 days. This year’s election is the second longest.

With 970 million registered voters, the size of India’s electorate is bigger than the combined population of the 27 European Union member states.

While some of India’s 28 state and eight federal territories cast their ballots in a day, voting elsewhere took longer. The largest state, Uttar Pradesh, with 200 million people, voted on all seven days.

WATCH: How does India’s election work? AP Explains

India’s 6-week-long national election came to an end Saturday with most exit polls projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to extend his decade in power with a third consecutive term.

Counting starts with postal ballots then moves to electronic ones

The counting of some 642 million votes cast in India’s election is being done at various locations around the country by government employees. Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said they were starting with postal ballots and then move on to combining the votes from India’s electronic voting machines.

The process is expected to be completed by the end of the day.India has close to 970 million eligible voters and votes were cast at more than a million polling stations staggered over the last six weeks.That brought the final phase into India’s hottest season, with temperatures higher than 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in some parts of the country, and Kumar said the election officials learned a valuable lesson.

“We should have completed the election at least one month before,” he said ahead of the start of the counting. “We shouldn’t have let it continue into so much heat.”

India begins counting votes

India has begun counting more than 640 million votes in the world’s largest democratic exercise, which was widely expected to return Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a third term after a decade in power.

Nearly 970 million people, more than 10% of the world’s population, were eligible to vote. Turnout was around 66% on average across the seven phases, according to official data.

The tallying of votes Tuesday at counting centers in each of the 543 constituencies where polls were held could stretch into the evening before a final result is declared by the Election Commission of India.But leads will start to emerge earlier, which will give an idea of where the results may be headed.

Polling agents of political parties watch officials count the votes at a counting center in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)