Summary
* Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to retain power, but his BJP party lost its outright parliamentary majority for the first time in 10 years
* His NDA bloc secured 293 seats – above the 272-mark needed to form a government
* Modi thanked voters for their mandate, and said he would "do everything" to eradicate corruption and poverty
* The opposition coalition, INDIA, performed far better than expected, securing 232 seats
* The INDIA alliance has not accepted defeat and says it will meet today to decide next steps
* The world's biggest election was held in seven phases over six weeks with almost a billion people registered to vote
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's political alliance won India's weeks-long general election on Tuesday (Jun 4), but the opposition said voters had sent a clear message after his Hindu nationalist party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in a decade.
The alliance led by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won an overall parliamentary majority, results on the election commission website showed late Tuesday (Jun 4). But the BJP itself was projected to secure only 240 seats of its own, well down on the 303 it won at the last polls five years ago, meaning it would need to rely on its alliance partners to pass legislation.
India had given the party and its allies a mandate "for a third consecutive time", Modi told a crowd of cheering supporters in the capital New Delhi. "Our third term will be one of big decisions and the country will write a new chapter of development. This is Modi's guarantee."
With more than 99 percent of votes counted, the BJP's vote share at 36.6 percent was marginally lower than at the last general election.
(Compiled)
