In a historic election that would could have far-reaching implications for India's polity and its policies, Narendra Modi, a rank outsider to Delhi's politics, was poised to become the 14th prime minister of this diverse nation of 1.2 billion people, storming into its citadels of power by decimating the Congress party that has ruled the country for much of the period since its independence.
"I have been elected as the prime worker of the people," said Modi, seeking to project his humility in a victory speech at Vadodara, in Gujarat, to almost rockstar-like adulation from screaming supporters, both men and women and thousands of young people. Modi won with a parliamentary record margin of over 570,000 votes from Vadodara, one of the two constituencies from which he contested, the other being Varanasi, from where also he won.
"All the people of this country are ours. It is our responsibility to take everyone along. Our mission will be: With all, development for all," said he, seeking to allay fears among minorities about his rise.
Modi pointed out to resounding cheers from the crowd how this was the first time that a non-Congress party had got a majority on its own in a national election in India that was followed keenly around the world.
A host of global leaders from Britain, Japan, Israel, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia rang up or sent congratulatory messages to Modi, who is widely expected to have a more muscular foreign policy and even changes some of India's international equations.
The stock market shot up on news of the imminent BJP victory even as India Inc looked to a "industry-friendly" Modi to lift a flagging economy and restore investor confidence in the world's third largest economy.
The Congress, India's oldest party which had ruled the country for a decade since 2004, faced its worst humiliation, raising question marks about the future of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has given India most of its prime ministers. Congress' de facto prime ministerial candidate Rahul Gandhi, whose father, grandmother and great grandfather were all prime ministers, was humbled by Modi in a way that the Congress plummeted to its lowest ever two-digit tally in a national election.
It had won 206 seats in the last election in 2009. On the other hand, the BJP, which debuted as a party with just two seats in 1984 when the Congress won a record 414 seats, was poised to take its tally to nearly 280 seats, a comfortable majority on its own, without any of its allies.
"It is the start of a new era in Indian politics," exclaimed Rajnath Singh, the BJP president whose audacious move to name Modi as the prime ministerial candidate of the party late last year upset the veterans but was wholeheartedly endorsed by the party rank and file.
Even political pundits gasped at the sheer scale of the BJP's sweep that election officials said was poised to give it a comfortable majority in the 545-member Lok Sabha even without the aid of its old and new allies.
The Congress did not win a single seat in seven states and it was unlikely to win more than 10 seats in any state.
Outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulated Modi, who is still the Gujarat chief minister. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who won easily from Rae Bareli along with her son Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), took responsibility for the defeat but was criticised for not being gracious enough to congratulate Modi.
"The people's verdict is against us," Gandhi said. Congress strategist and former minister Jairam Ramesh summed up the mood in the country's grand old party by saying: "Our performance is worse than the worst case scenario."
The elections proved a graveyard for Congress stalwarts. Minister after minister, leader after leader, lost at the hustings, with only a notable few winning through to the 16th Lok Sabha, the Indian parliament's House of People. At least 23 ministers of Manmohan Singh's government lost. Manmohan Singh, who had announced his retirement earlier this year, did not contest.
Manmohan Singh will resign as prime minister Saturday morning after addressing the nation at 1000 hours. Modi, who comes to the capital Saturday morning from his home state Gujarat, is to take his oath of office May 21.
After the win became clear in the morning itself, within hours of the start of counting over 550 million votes cast in 1.7 million electronic voting machines spread across 543 constituencies, a visibly jubilant Modi promptly called on his ageing mother, the one person he respects the most, in Gandhinagar and hugged her as television cameras relayed the scene to the nation.
All BJP stalwarts won easily including L.K. Advani (Gandhinagar), Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), Murli Manohar Joshi (Kanpur), Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur) and Sushma Swaraj (Vidisha).
The only BJP leader who lost was Arun Jaitley, leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha who was trounced by former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh of the Congress in Amritsar. Jaitley was tipped to be the finance minister in a new Modi government.
Tens of thousands of BJP supporters celebrated the party's victory all over the country. In New Delhi, thousands gathered at the BJP headquarters dancing, bursting firecrakcers and distributing sweets.
Party colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "The results show the people of India love Modi."
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raj said Modi had "electrified the nation." Amit Shah, Modi's closest aide, declared that India was poised to see major changes in politics.
The BJP was poised to win all but seven seats in Uttar Pradesh which elects the maximum of 80 members to the Lok Sabha. The BJP-led combine was also poised to bag 31 of the 40 seats in neighbouring Bihar.
Interestingly, three of the four regional parties which too did well in their strongholds were not allied with Modi even if their leaders have had good equations with him.
Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK led by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa will be the third largest party in the Lok Sabha. It has won or is wnning in 37 of the state's 39 seats - a showing that punctured long-time rival DMK.
In West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress decimated the Left. It has won or is winning 34 of the 42 seats. The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha was set to win 20 of the 21 seats.
The BJP's oldest ally, the Shiv Sena, was on the victory lap in 19 of the 48 constituencies. The Shiv Sena-BJP combine would win 40 seats in the state.
"The most fundamental factor behind such a decisive mandate is the all India anti-Congress sentiment," political commentator Dipankar Gupta told IANS.
Many Congress veterans bit the dust. They included Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot and Sports Minister Jitendra Singh.
Outgoing finance minister P. Chidamabaram's son Karti Chidambaram lost from his father's constituency after the latter opted out of the contest. And so did Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar (Sasaram).
The Left too suffered a major blow. AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who claimed he would easily defeat Modi in Varanasi, lost by more than 200,000 votes. His new party won only four of 440 seats they contested.
Sonia, Rahul take responsibility for Congress' worst defeat
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi Friday took responsibility for the party's worst drubbing in the national election, but did not give credit to Narendra Modi for the BJP victory.
Making a short statement to the media - without entertaining any questions - at the party headquarters after it became clear that party would be relegated to around 50 seats, Sonia Gandhi said: "The Congress faced its rivals in the elections on the basis of policies and principles. Despite that we failed to get the majority we had thought we would get."
"We believe that in a democracy winning and losing is part of the game. This time the mandate is clearly against us. I accept the mandate with humility. I hope that the incoming government will not compromise with the interests of society."
"I want to congratulate the new government," she said, but did not name the Bharatiya Janata Party or its leader Narendra Modi, who is set to become India's next prime minister.
"The Congress will always fight and never compromise with the interests of people.
"I want to thank the people for their votes, and as president of the party I accept responsibility for its defeat," she said
Rahul Gandhi, who appeared to have a fixed smile on his face, said he wanted to congratulate the new government, but he too did not mention either the BJP or Modi.
"They have been given the mandate by the people, I want to wish them the best."
"The Congress has done pretty badly, and there is a lot to think about. As vice president I take the responsibility for the party's defeat in the Lok Sabha polls," Rahul said, almost a repeat of what he said after the party's defeat in the November asssembly election.
Mother and son then quickly left, declining to take any questions from the thronging media.
We will take along everyone, says Modi
In his first comments after the BJP won the Lok Sabha election, party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi made it clear Friday that his government will take everyone along.
"The government belongs to all the people of the country, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Kutch to Kamrup," Modi said days before he will be sworn in as India's next prime minister."All the people of this country are ours," he added.
"It is our responsibility to take everyone along. A government cannot be of just a few people...Our mission will be 'sabka saath, sabka vikas'," he added.
"Our mantra will be inclusive growth."
As Modi spoke in Hindi, he was repeatedly interrupted by thunderous cries of "Modi, Modi". He was forced to halt at times before continuing with his talk.
In an obvious message directed at the Congress, Modi said that now that the country's most bitterly fought general election had ended, "there are no enemies in politics".
Describing himself as people's "mazdoor number one", he said: "The country will not get a mazdoor like me in the coming 60 months."
Referring to the sweeping BJP win, which is poised to give the party a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha, the Gujarat chief minister said: "I am very grateful to the people of India."
Modi said the Lok Sabha verdict was significant because a non-Congress party had gained parliamentary majority on its own for the first time in independent India.
It will also be the first time that India will be run by a leadership born after the country's independence, he added.
Modi said he had chosen to first speak in Vadodara after BJP's victory as the city had elected him to the Lok Sabha with a record margin.
He said Vadodra has given him a victory margin of 5.70 lakh votes, even though he could not campaign much in the city.
"In the history of elections, such margin has not happened in a general election. I am not talking about a by-election," he said.
He said Gujarat had created a record by giving all 26 Lok Sabha seats to the BJP.
"There were seven by-polls in Gujarat where six seats were with Congress. Today BJP has won in four," Modi said.
Prominent Winners and Losers
Winners:
* Narendra Modi (BJP/Vadodra; takes unassailable lead in Varanasi)
* Sonia Gandhi (Congress/Rae Bareli)
* Murli Manohar Joshi (BJP/Kanpur)
* Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress/Gulbarga- SC)
* Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas M. Veerappa Moily (Congress/Chikkballabpur)
* Union Minisgter Kamal Nath (Congress/Chindwara)
* Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises K.H.A. Muniyappa (Congress/Kolar-SC)
* Minister of State for Labour Kodikunnil Suresh (Congress/Mavelikara)
* Minister of State for Civil Aviation K.C. Venugopal (Congres/Alappuzha)
* Minister of State for Food, Public Distribution, Consumer Affairs Minister (independent charge) K.V. Thomas (Congress/Ernakulam)
* Minister of State for Home Mulapally Ramachandran (Congress/Vadakara)
* Hema Malini (BJP/Mathura)
* Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor (Congress/Thiravananthapuram)
* Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio (Naga Poeples Front/Kohima)
* Ram Vilas Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party/Hajipur)
* Chirag Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party/Jamui)
* Moon Moon Sen (Trinamool Congress/Bankura)
* Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's grandnephew Sugata Bose (Trinamool Congress/Jadavpur)
* Surinder Singh Ahluwalia (BJP/Darjeeling)
* Former railway minister Dinesh Trivedi (Trinamool Congress/Barrackpore)
* Former Karnataka chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda (BJP/Bangalore North)
* President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit (Congress/Jangipur)
* Shatrughan Sinha (BJP/Patna Sahib)
* Kirron Kher (BJP/Chandigarh)
* Bengal matinee idol Dev (Trinamool Congress/Ghatal)
* K. Chandrasekhara Rao (TRS/Medak)
Former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig (PDP/Baramulla)
* Mehbooba Mufti (PDP/Anantnag)
* Bollywood singer Babul Supriyo (BJP/Asansol)
*Comedian Innocent (Left-backed Independent/ Chalakudy)
* Dushyant Singh, son of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje (BJP/Jhalwar-Baran)
* Thupstan Chhewang (BJP/Ladakh - 37 votes.
* Actor-comedian Bhagwant Mann (AAP/Sangrur)
Losers:
* Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar (Congress/Sasaram)
* Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh (RLD/Baghpat)
* Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal (Congress/Kanpur)
* Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress/Udhampur)
* Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah (National Conference/Srinagar)
* Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V. Narayanasamy (Congress/Puducherry)
* Union minister Sachin Pilot (Congress/Ajmer)
* Union minister Girja Vyas (Congress/Chittorgarh)
* Union minister Bhanwar Jitendra Singh (Congress/Alwar)
Union minister Chandresh Kumari (Congress/Jodhpur)
*Former India cricket captain Mohd. Azharuddin (Congress/Tonk-Sawai Madhopur)
* Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal (Congress/Chandigarh)
*Former telecom ministerm A. Raja (DMK/Nilgiris)
* Nine-time MP Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M/Bankura)
* Arun Jaitley (BJP/ Amritsar)
* Bhaichung Bhutia (Trinamool Congress/Darjeeling)
* Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's wife and incumbent MP (Congress/Mandi)
* Sharad Yadav (Janata Dal-United/Madhepura)
* Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh (Independent/Barmer)
* Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi (RJD/Saran)
* Filmmaker Prakash Jha (Janata Dal-United/West Champaran)
* Actor Rakhi Sawant (Independent/Mumbai Northwest-Sixth)
World leaders congratulate Modi
Leaders of several countries Friday congratulated Narendra Modi, set to become India's next prime minister, for leading the BJP to a decisive win in the general elections.
Heads of government of Britain, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Australia and Israel sent congratulatory messages to Modi as the results were declared.
British Prime Minister called up Modi and conveyed his greetings to Narendra Modi.
"The prime minister called Narendra Modi this morning to congratulate him on his victory in the Indian elections and the record turnout, making this the biggest democratic election in history,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“Modi said he would be delighted to accept the Prime Minister’s invitation to visit the UK. Both leaders agreed on the importance of the UK-India relationship and agreed to work together to strengthen it in the months ahead."
Cameron also used his Twitter handle to convey his greetings.
"Congratulations @narendramodi on victory in India's elections. Keen to work together to get the most from UK-India relationship," Cameron tweeted in his official 10, Downing Street, account.
British Foreign Minister William Hague said Britain congratulates Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on their success in the elections.
"I congratulate Narendra Modi and the BJP on their success and look forward to forging an even closer partnership with India in the months ahead," Hague said in a statement.
"UK has strong ties with India and the British government looks forward to working with the new Indian government to build on this relationship and deliver security, growth and prosperity for both our nations.”
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif too Friday congratulated Modi for winning the Indian general election.
Sharif telephoned Modi and expressed his best wishes, Radio Pakistan reported.
Stating that he had followed the general elections closely, he also invited Modi to visit Pakistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai also congratulated Modi for leading the BJP to victory.
"President #Karzai extends his warm Congratulations to @narendramodi on victory in elections. Afghans always regard #India as a true friend," Aimal Faizi, spokesperson to the president, tweeted Friday.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina congratulated BJP president Rajnath Singh and Modi for the party's landslide victory in the elections.
In separate letters to the BJP president and Modi, she invited them to visit Bangladesh at the earliest.
"On behalf of Bangladesh Awami League (BNP) and my own behalf, it gives me great pleasure in heartily congratulating you and the members of your party on your landslide victory," Hasina said in her letter to Rajnath.
"The magnitude of victory is clearly reflective of the charismatic leadership quality of yours and the prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, your top office bearers and election campaign strategists and managers, as well as the huge degree of trust and confidence that the people of India have chosen to repose in your party and in your leadership," the statement said.
"I would like to take this opportunity to reassure you of my personal and my party’s firm commitment to working with you and your party, and the elected government of India to bring about meaningful, tangible and positive changes in our close and friendly relations that would benefit our two great democracy-loving peoples," she said in her letter to Modi.
Her statement also praised Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his visionary leadership.
"The historic relationship between our two parties dates back decades," she said.
“The people of Bangladesh were thankful for the unprecedented degree of support and all-round assistance extended by the people of India to us during our Liberation War," she added.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa issued an invitation to Modi to visit Sri Lanka after the BJP's victory.
Presidential spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said that the president issued the invitation to Modi after congratulating him on the election victory.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott too called up Modi to congratulate him for leading the BJP to victory.
"I've spoken to @narendramodi and congratulated him on his success. I look forward to strengthening ties between India and Australia," Abbott tweeted Friday in his official PM account.
According to Radio Australia, Abbott has invited Modi to visit Australia for the G20 Summit to be held in Brisbane in November.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu also called Modi and congratulated him on his victory.
“He (Netanyahu) said that he was looking forward to work with Mr. Modi and enhance bilateral cooperation,” a statement issued by the Gujarat Bhavan in New Delhi said.
