The result of the mega seven-phase Lok Sabha elections in India will announce today, report agencies.
The Election Commission of India will count hundreds of millions of votes in a few hours, announcing the results of the country's 18th Lok Sabha election, after six weeks and seven phases of what has been the world's largest-ever democratic exercise.
The results will determine who will form India's next government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be seeking a third straight term in office, while the Congress party-led opposition will be hoping to upstage them.
Polling for the 2024 general elections covering 543 parliamentary constituencies started on April 19 and concluded on June 01.
India's Election Commission said on Monday a record-breaking 642 million voters cast their ballots in the general election and dismissed opposition concerns over how the votes would be counted.
The seven-phase vote - the world's largest - and was held in scorching summer heat in many parts of the country, with temperatures rising to nearly 50 degrees Celsius (122°F) in some north and northwestern regions.
BJP-led alliance is projected to win a big majority, TV exit polls said on Saturday, ahead of the counting on Tuesday.
"We have created a world record of 642 million proud Indian voters. This is a historic moment," Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar told reporters.
Although the 2024 turnout is higher than the 612 million voters who cast their ballots in 2019, it is about one percentage point lower than the 67.4% turnout five years back.
Turnout among 968 million registered voters was possibly lower in the initial phases because there was no single major issue to draw voters out in the heat, analysts said.
Kumar said the vote-counting process had been in place for decades and was "very robust".
"All work will be done transparently. If someone still tries to do something wrong, strict action will be taken," he said.
His comments on the vote-counting process came a day after the opposition INDIA alliance, led by Rahul Gandhi's Congress party, urged the commission to follow norms during counting.
The alliance of two dozen parties petitioned the commission (EC) to stick to its old system of completing counting postal votes before declaring results from votes cast in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Postal votes, which are paper ballots, are mostly cast by troops serving outside their home constituencies or officials away from home on election duty.
This year, postal votes were also offered to voters over 85 years of age and people with disabilities to allow them to vote from home.
