official results<\/a> showed late in the night.<\/p>\nWith a few constituencies still left to declare, it had secured 272 seats, enough for a majority in the 543-seat parliament, results on the election commission website showed.<\/p>\n
The BJP itself had won 224 seats and was leading in 16 more for a projected total of 240 \u2014 by far the largest party but a significant drop from the 303 seats it won at the last polls in 2019.<\/p>\n
The main opposition Congress party had won 88 seats and was leading in 11 for a projected total of 99, nearly double the 52 it secured five years ago.<\/p>\n
Having to depend on allies to form the government could introduce some uncertainty into policymaking after a decade in which Modi has ruled with an authoritative hold.<\/p>\n
The BJP won a majority on its own in 2014, ending India\u2019s era of unstable coalition governments, and repeated the feat in 2019.<\/p>\n
Modi said people had placed their faith in the BJP-led coalition for a third time and it was historic, in his first comments since the counting of votes began.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blessings of the people for the third time after 10 years boosts our morale, gives new strength,\u201d Modi told cheering BJP members at party headquarters in New Delhi.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur opponents, despite being united, could not even win as many seats as BJP won.\u201d<\/p>\n
Promising to work harder and take \u201cbig decisions\u201d, Modi listed electronics, semiconductors and defence manufacturing, renewables and the farm sectors as areas of special focus in his third term, without elaborating.<\/p>\n\n