Modi 3.0: Might a 'leapfrogging' strategy lead India astray again?

TOKYO -- In this year of elections around the globe, there were few surprises until India released the results of its voting on June 4.

In the election for the 543-seat lower house of "the world's largest democracy," Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party suffered significant setbacks, securing only 240 seats -- far below the 303 won in the previous election in 2019. This was the first time since Modi ran for office as a BJP candidate in 2014 that the party failed to achieve a simple majority of 272 seats in the lower house.