India election results point to need for domestic reconciliation

India's general election produced an unexpectedly narrow victory. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, lost a large number of seats in the vote for the 543-member lower house of parliament. Still, the ruling coalition maintained its majority, and Modi remains in office.

Although the BJP aimed for a big win on the back of solideconomic growth, low-income voters left behind by that expansion and those critical of the government's heavy-handed rule expressed their dissatisfaction at the polls. Modi and his party should humbly accept the will of the people and work toward domestic reconciliation.