India begins counting votes in marathon election expected to bring Prime Minister Modi a third term

NEW DELHI (AP) — India on Tuesday began counting more than 640 million votes in the world’s largest democratic exercise, which was widely expected to return Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a third term after a decade in power.

The 6-week-long election was seen as a referendum on Modi. If the 73-year-old wins, it will only be the second time an Indian leader has retained power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister.

Exit polls on Saturday by major television channels projected a comfortable win for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies over a broad opposition alliance led by the Congress party and its main campaign leader, Rahul Gandhi.

Indian television channels have had a mixed record in the past in predicting election results.

Nearly 970 million people, more than 10% of the world’s population, were eligible to vote. Turnout was around 66% on average across the seven phases, according to official data.

The tallying of votes at counting centers in each of the 543 constituencies where polls were held could stretch into the evening before a final result is declared by the Election Commission of India.

But leads will start to emerge earlier, which will give an idea of where the results may be headed.

In his 10 years in power, Modi has transformed India’s political landscape. His popularity has outstripped that of his party’s, and has turned a parliamentary election into one that increasingly resembles a presidential-style campaign. The result is that the BJP relies more and more on Modi’s enduring brand to stay in power, with local politicians receding into the background even in state elections.

“Modi was not just the prime campaigner, but the sole campaigner of