KATHMANDU: Stunning the opposition Indian Congress party, India has once again picked Narendra Modi as the country’s Prime Minister with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) heading towards a landslide victory.

Now, the election results so far have made the road clear for Modi to head for another five-year term dampening predictions that the party would lose seats this time.

Modi, portrayed as a powerful and divisive leader, tweeted on Thursday promising to build a strong and inclusive nation. This is what he said on his Twitter: “Together we grow. Together we prosper. Together we will build a strong and inclusive India. India wins yet again!”

With this win, Modi has become the first non-Congress Prime Minister to return to power after a full five-year term in India, whom the Indian voters once again trusted his party by snubbing the opposition parties’ allegations on him for failing in all aspects, including farming distress, massive job crisis, and corruption during his previous term.

Voters, as observers note, banked on Modi as a leader who could save the country from the corrupt politicians and elites.

Moreover, the BJP-led government’s pragmatic approach to social welfare schemes, direct cash transfers have had a tremendous impact in the 2019 elections.

One of the factors that helped Modi to come to power once again could be his retaliatory action by launching airstrikes targeting militant training camps in Pakistan.

Ebullient BJP supporters, meanwhile, have been celebrating the victory in different parts of India.

Hundreds of millions of Indian voters cast ballots in seven phases over 39 days at a million polling stations for the 542 seats. The turnout percentage this time reached a record high, with over 66 percent of eligible voters coming to the booths to vote for their representatives.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has so far garnered over 330 seats, a near-repeat of the party’s 2014 win while the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) getting 94 seats. A simple majority is 272 seats.

Modi is likely to form a new government on May 26.

Meanwhile, several world leaders have congratulated Narendra Modi as his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which is all set for a historic win.

Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Oli congratulated Modi for the “landslide election victory” in the Lok Sabha elections, and wished Modi ‘all success ahead’. Oli tweeted saying that he looked forward to working closely with Modi.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Modi on his ‘impressive election victory’. Netanyahu said the election outcome further reaffirm Modi’s leadership of the world’s largest democracy. He said Israel and India would continue to strengthen the friendship.

Likewise, in a letter to Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated him saying he looks forward to working with Modi.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe on Thursday congratulated Modi over the phone while Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory telegram message.

President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih congratulated Modi saying he looked forward to “enhanced and closer ties” of Maldives-India cooperation.

Similarly, President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani said the Afghan government was looking forward to expanding cooperation between Afghanistan and India.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena also congratulated Modi saying his country looks forward to continuing the warm relationship with India.