“TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES”
Exit polls showed Modi was well on track to triumph, with the premier saying he was confident that “the people of India have voted in record numbers” to re-elect his government.
Results are expected on Tuesday but supporters of Modi in his constituency of Varanasi – the spiritual capital of the Hindu faith – said they believed their leader’s win was secure.
“His government is coming back,” said Nand Lal, selling flowers outside a temple.
Voting in the seventh and final staggered round of the six-week poll ended on Saturday, held in brutally hot conditions across swaths of the country.
At least 33 polling workers died from heatstroke in Uttar Pradesh state alone, where temperatures hit 46.9 degrees Celsius, election officials said.
India’s top court granted Kejriwal bail last month, giving a fleeting boost to the opposition’s quixotic campaign to oust Modi, but ordered him to return to custody after the election.
Kejriwal, 55, has been chief minister for nearly a decade and first came to office as a staunch anti-corruption crusader.
His government was accused of corruption when it implemented a policy to liberalise the sale of liquor in 2021 and give up a lucrative government stake in the sector.
The policy was withdrawn the following year but the resulting probe into the alleged corrupt allocation of licences has since led to the jailing of two top Kejriwal allies.
“All of you, take care of yourselves,” Kejriwal, who has consistently denied wrongdoing and refused to relinquish his post, said earlier on social media.
“I will take care of you all in jail.”
Read the full article here
