India's Modi could win third term, polls predict

Narendra Modi

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to win a third consecutive term in office, exit polls suggest.

Analysts warn the polls, released by various news agencies, have often been wrong in the past and are not impartial.

However, they have placed Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the frontrunner in the general election.

The BJP, the main opposition Congress party and regional rivals battled it out in a fierce campaign over seven phases of polling.

Results will be announced on 4 June.

A party or coalition needs 272 seats in parliament to form a government.

The BJP led-coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), will cross this target - according to exit polls, which forecast it being close to taking about two-thirds of the seats.

In his first comments after voting ended, Mr Modi claimed victory without referring to the exit polls."I can say with confidence that the people of India have voted in record numbers to re-elect the NDA government," he wrote on X, without providing evidence of his claim.

BBC