Aura of 'invincibility' around Modi 'shattered'; Oppn energised

Washington/London, NT Bureau: The 'aura of invincibility' around Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been 'shattered' by Indian voters who gave the Opposition a new lease on life, this is how the international media described the outcome of India's general elections.

According to the results for all Lok Sabha constituencies, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 240 of the 543 seats and the Congress 99.

The BJP led National Democratic Alliance has comfortably crossed the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha though the BJP lost its outright majority.

The New York Times started its report by noting, "Suddenly, the aura of invincibility around Narendra Modi has been shattered."

Terming the results as 'unexpectedly sobering,' it noted that they were a 'sharp reversal a decade into Mr Modi's transformational tenure.'

For the past decade, India has been 'synonymous internationally with its prime minister, Narendra Modi.

But on Tuesday, as final election results poured in, the electorate appeared to show dissatisfaction with the status quo and placed the serial winner onto shaky ground,' The Washington Post wrote. CNN said, "Tuesday's result is a humbling moment for a leader whose lead in the polls was lauded by supporters as unassailable."

The verdict marks a surprising revival for the Congress Party-led INDIA Opposition alliance, defying earlier predictions of its decline, and sharply diverging from both exit polls and pre-election surveys, the BBC said.

The results will also energise the much-criticised Congress-led Opposition, the BBC added. 'This election is undoubtedly a rebuke for Modi and the BJP,' Time magazine.

The Wall Street Journal called it an election rebuke for Modi. The election results indicated Modi had not achieved the landslide victory many had predicted, a piece in The Guardian stated.

“The Opposition alliance appeared to far outperform expectations,” the UK-based newspaper added.

In his third term, the Modi-led government might shift its focus to domestic issues, prioritising public welfare and fair distribution of growth benefits, and even adopting a softer stance on Hindu nationalism, state-run China Daily said, citing analysts.