US commends India's elections, refrains from commenting on results

The US on Tuesday praised India's parliamentary elections as the "largest exercise of democracy in history", while refraining from commenting on the outcomes of the polls.

State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller commended the Indian government and its voters for successfully completing the massive electoral process. "On behalf of the United States, we want to commend the government of India and voters there for successfully completing and participating in such a massive electoral undertaking, and we look forward to seeing final results," he stated during his daily news briefing.

Miller emphasised the US stance on not commenting on electoral winners and losers worldwide. "I'm also not going to comment on winners and losers in elections as is our case around the world. What is important for us and what we have seen over the past six weeks is the largest exercise of democracy in history, as the Indian people came to the polls," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the BJP-led NDA getting a majority in the Lok Sabha.

In the election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured or was leading in 240 seats, emerging as the single largest party in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

BJP's key allies, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)), were leading or winning 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively. With the support of other allies, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was on track to reach the 272-majority mark.