However, Mr Modi's coalition faces a stronger challenge from the opposition than expected after it pushed back against the leader's mixed economic record and polarising politics.
The counting of more than 640 million votes cast over six weeks in the world's largest democratic exercise was likely to take all of yesterday. Mr Modi is still widely expected to be elected to a third five-year term even as the race tightened and the early count showed his party might not secure a majority on its own.
If Mr Modi wins, it would cement the 73-year-old as one of the country's most popular and important leaders.
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