Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday led his Bharatiya Janata Party to a massive victory for a second term in office.
The BJP got an absolute majority getting 272 of the 458 seats, results of which were declared past midnight and are on course to touch the 300-seat mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
After Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Modi is the third prime minister of the country and the first non-Congress one -- who has been able to retain power for a second term with full majority in Lok Sabha.
In his victory speech, PM Modi said, "Its the victory of democracy and people," adding that the world will have to recognise the power of India's democracy.
This is the 21st century, this is a new India. "It's the victory of those who were once deprived of proper healthcare," he said.
Below are the LIVE updates:
11:15 am: Former Jammu and Kashmir CM and winning candidate from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah danced during celebrations at the party office in Jammu.
#WATCH Former J&K CM and winning candidate from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah dances during celebrations at party office in Jammu. National Conference has won 2 out of the 3 seats in the valley and is leading on 1. pic.twitter.com/NeGbhDxwJy
— ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2019
10:30 am: PM Narendra Modi arrived at senior BJP leader LK Advani's residence in Delhi with BJP president Amit Shah. Modi will meet Murli Manohar Joshi later today.
9:57 am: Sambit Patra, Odisha's BJP candidate from Puri lost by over 11,000 votes to BJD's Pinaki Misra.
8:15 am: In a first, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) could not manage to win even a single seat in the 17th Lok Sabha elections.
7:45 am: BJP wins on 288 seats, leading on 15; Congress wins on 50 seats, leading on 2, out of total 542 Parliamentary constituency seats.
7:35 am: US President Donald Trump congratulated Narendra Modi on his "big" election victory and said "great things" are in store for the bilateral strategic ties under the Indian Prime Minister's second innings.
6:50 am: BJP candidates in Maharashtra --Gopal Shetty, Poonam Mahajan and Manoj Kotak-- win Mumbai North, Mumbai North Central and Mumbai North East Lok Sabha seats respectively.
6:45 am: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari won the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat by 2,16,009 votes.
6:40 am: Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Kirron Kher won the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat by 46,970 votes. She was fielded against Congress' Pawan Kumar Bansal.
6:35 am: Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav won Mainpuri and Azamgarh Lok Sabha parliamentary seats respectively.
6:30 am: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi retains her Rae Bareli seat.