India awaits polling results after mammoth elections

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) — The stage is set to announce the result of India's general elections, which concluded last week after millions cast their votes across the South Asian country.

According to India's election commission, the vote count will begin at 8 a.m. local time (0230GMT), with final official results expected by the end of the day.

However, the general trend of the results will start becoming clear out within few hours of the vote count starting.

The immense seven-phase endeavor to fill 543 parliamentary seats concluded on Saturday, with the opposition alliance claiming it would win 295 seats, while the ruling alliance stated it would exceed 370 seats in Tuesday's result.

The election is primarily a battle between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and opposition alliance INDIA, led by the main opposition Indian National Congress (INC).

The exit polls, released after the last phase of voting, projected over 350 seats for the ruling NDA and less than 200 for INDIA.

Each of the seven phases of the election was held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. In the final phase, at least 33 polling personnel died due to a heat wave in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

Out of 968 million registered voters, 642 million cast the ballots throughout the election, the commission said on Monday, adding that the vote-counting process was "very robust."

In the national capital New Delhi, the BJP and INC both have made preparations at their respective headquarters for vote-counting day.

Even as exit polls have hinted at Modi's party returning in great numbers, some experts suggest these predictions may be "exaggerated."

"I think the exit polls have shown exaggerated results. Looking at the ground situation, there is likely to be an almost equal distribution of seats between the ruling party alliance and opposition parties," Sarvesh Dutt Tripathi, who teaches media in a Delhi-based university told Anadolu.