A “people’s revolution” in the world’s largest democracy sees opposition candidate Narendra Modi declare victory in a tweet.
Opposition candidate Narendra Modi declared the “good days are coming” after sweeping to power in historic elections in India.
Though the final results have yet to be confirmed, Mr Modi took to Twitter to declare victory for his Hindu Bharitya Janata Party (BJP). He tweeted: “India has won. Good days are coming.”
Outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called Mr Modi to congratulate him – while David Cameron has also sent a message.
The Prime Minister tweeted: “Congratulations @narendramodi on victory in India’s elections. Keen to work together to get the most from UK-India relationship.”
India’s Election Commission says that for the first time in 30 years a party appears to have enough seats to form a majority government in what is the world’s second most populous country.
The BJP currently has 272 seats – meaning they won’t need to form a coalition in the lower house of parliament. The result ends 10 years of Congress Party rule and follows what the BJP describe as a “people’s revolution”.
“This is the beginning of change, a people’s revolution and the start of a new era,” senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar told AFP.
As chief minister of Gujarat, Mr Modi was criticised for failing to apologise for religious riots in 2002 in which at least 1,000 people died – mostly Muslims.
He has denied any role in the violence and the Supreme Court declared he had no case to answer.
However, suspicions prompted the United States to deny him a visa in 2005, while Britain maintained a diplomatic boycott on Mr Modi until 2012.
