Modi Loses Majority in Stunning Election Setback, but Is Set to Keep Power in India

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By Vibhuti Agarwal, Krishna Pokharel and Shan Li

(The Wall Street Journal) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to keep power for a third term even after voters dealt the Hindu nationalist a stunning setback by denying him an outright majority following an election dominated by high unemployment and inflation.

Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will now have to rely on allies in his coalition to cross the 272-seat threshold for a majority in the lower house of parliament to form a government. It is the first election since 2014, when Modi won his first term as prime minister, that the BJP hasn’t scored an absolute majority on its own.

Modi would be only the second leader after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister, to return to power for a third straight term. Official results show the BJP winning around 240 seats. It won 303 seats in 2019.