NDA leads in 340 seats: Modi scores historic election victory, says party

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, also a senior BJP leader, said on Twitter the BJP had won a "massive victory".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party scored a historic victory in the Lok Sabha elections, his foreign minister said on Thursday, as officials counted hundreds of millions of votes after the massive, multi-stage poll.

Official data from the Election Commission showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead in 292 of the 542 seats available, well over the 272 seats needed for a majority in the Lok Sabha.

That would give it the first back-to-back majority for a single party since 1984. The main opposition Congress Party was ahead in 51 seats, figures showed.

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, also a senior