India’s elections: results from the biggest event in the world

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 282 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, becoming the first party other than Congress to win a parliamentary majority without coalition partners. The outcome signals the most decisive mandate for an Indian leader since 1984 when Rajiv Gandhi swept the polls following the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi. The BJP-led coalition, the National Democratic Alliance, secured a total of 336 seats. Meanwhile, Congress had its worst-ever showing in an Indian election, winning only 44 seats, far less than predicted by even the party’s harshest critics.