(MENAFN- NewsIn.Asia) "> May 23 (CNN) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to secure a stunning victory in the country's general elections, defying expectations of even his own party, early results show.Though only a handful of seats have been officially called, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which needs 272 seats in the next parliament to form a government, is leading in 349 seats. The main opposition Congress Party, in contrast, is only leading in 50 seats.Full results are expected to emerge in the next few hours.
The result follows a polarizing election during which Modi and the BJP portrayed the incumbent less as an economic reformer — the main message in the 2014 elections that first brought Modi to national office — and more as a muscular nationalist firmly rooted in the Hindu right wing movement, a turn that made many liberals and minority Indians nervous.
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