Nigeria President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a congratulatory message to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on the victory of his re-election for the third time and second person in the history of India to be re-elected thrice.

The India election which came to an end on Tuesday after the electoral body counted more than 640 million votes in what many observers considered as the world’s largest election and voters turnouts.

Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a rare third term with a majority seats of 240 in the parliamentary assembly.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, said the outcome of the India election is a refelection of the Prime Minster, Narendra Modi exceptional leadership in the country. 

The statement reads in quote thus: “President Bola Tinubu extends his warm congratulations to the Prime Minister of India, His Excellency, Narendra Modi, on his epoch-making victory in the nation’s parliamentary elections.

Prime Minister Modi’s coalition – the National Democratic Alliance – won a majority of the parliamentary seats, paving the way for a third consecutive term, which is a rare feat and the second time an Indian leader will retain power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister.

The President states that the outcome of the elections is a resounding affirmation of Prime Minister Modi’s exceptional leadership of the world’s largest democracy.

On behalf of the government and people of Nigeria, President Tinubu congratulates the people of India and assures the South Asian nation of Nigeria’s commitment to strengthening relations and advancing shared goals and values as strategic partners in the league of nations.

Ajazeera had reported earlier on Tuesday that: “India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed election victory for his party and its allies on Tuesday, but the opposition said they had “punished” the governing party to confound predictions and reduce their parliamentary majority.

Commentators and exit polls had projected an overwhelming victory for Modi, whose campaign wooed the Hindu majority to the worry of the country’s 200-million-plus Muslim community, deepening concerns over minority rights.

But for the first time in a decade, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to secure an overall majority of its own, figures from the election commission showed, meaning it would need to rely on its alliance partners.

The main opposition Congress party was set to nearly double its parliamentary seats, in a remarkable turnaround largely driven by deals to field single candidates against the BJP’s electoral juggernaut.

“Voters have punished the BJP,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told reporters. “I was confident that the people of this country would give the right response.”

With nearly 99 percent of votes counted, the BJP’s vote share at 36.7 percent was marginally lower than it was in the last polls in 2019.

Celebrations had already begun at BJP headquarters before the full announcement of results. But the mood at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi was also one of jubilation.

“BJP has failed to win a big majority on its own,” Congress lawmaker Rajeev Shukla told reporters. “It’s a moral defeat for them”, Ajazeera news report reads partly in quote.

Hindu Bureau news media captured the election activities and report thus: “After a long-drawn process, the election results for all the 543 seats were announced by the Election Commission of India early morning today. With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) falling short of the magic number that would have given it sole majority in the Lok Sabha, the party will have to rely on its allies to form the next government. 

The BJP has bagged a total of 240 seats, short of the majority marker of 272, and has called a meeting of the NDA parties in New Delhi today. Adding up the seats won by the allies, the NDA has secured a comfortable majority. At the same time, none of the members of the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc crossed the majority mark. The bloc, which bagged over 200 seats, will also hold a meeting today to chalk out its next steps. 

Meanwhile, with 28 seats between them, N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) hold the balance of the BJP-led NDA in their hands. Both parties have re-pledged their allegiance to the NDA and have confirmed that they will be present at the alliance’s meeting. 

The results of the two Assembly elections, in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, brought in the change of the incumbent government. With BJP taking a landslide victory in Odihsa, Naveen Patnaik’s 24-year tenure came to an end, while Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, gave a crushing defeat to Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh”.