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India’s next prime minister, Narendra Modi, greets supporters at his mother’s home in Gandhinagar on Friday, May 16. Modi is the leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. After a five-week-long election, the BJP swept the ruling Indian National Congress from power. Official results were expected later Friday.
BJP supporters dance and set off firecrackers at the news of election results in Allahabad on May 16.
Supporters celebrate the opposition’s victory in early preliminary results in Guwahati on May 16.
Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Indian National Congress, addresses reporters May 16 outside party headquarters in New Delhi, with her son and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi at her side. Rahul Gandhi said he took responsibility for the defeat of the Congress party, which had dominated Indian politics since the nation’s independence in 1947.
Hiraben Modi, 90, blesses her son Narendra, who becomes India’s next prime minister, at her home in Gandhinagar on May 16. Analysts predict his arrival in India’s top office will bring a marked change in direction for the world’s most populous democracy.
A family follows election results on TV in Guwahati on May 16.
A Hindu holy man passes a line of people after voting at a polling station Monday, May 12, in Varanasi during the ninth and final phase of elections.
An Indian Muslim woman waits in line to vote at a polling station in Varanasi on May 12.
Election workers prepare to seal an electronic voting machine after the final polls closed on May 12 in Varanasi.
The Indian National Congress party’s Rahul Gandhi, center, waves to supporters at a rally in Varanasi on Saturday, May 10, the final day of campaigning in India’s national election. There are 814 million eligible voters in India, making this the largest election in world history.
A family on a motorcycle passes Indian National Congress supporters in Varanasi on May 10.
Former TV journalist Ashutosh and actor Jaaved Jaffrey, who are Aam Aadmi Party parliamentary candidates, help campaign for party leader Arvind Kejriwal in Varanasi. Kejriwal established the party in response to the anti-corruption protests in 2011-12, and the party had a surprise showing in the 2013 local elections for the Delhi Assembly.
Trinamool Congress Chairwoman Mamata Banerjee, with microphone, campaigns for Jadavpur TMC candidate Sugata Bose, left, and South Kolkata candidate Subrata Bakshi, center, with Mithun Chakraborty on May 10 in Kolkata.
Election workers in Leh check voting machines on Tuesday, May 6.
Election officers rest between parked trucks before proceeding to their polling stations May 6 in Allahabad, India.
A cow approaches electronic voting machines in Allahabad on May 6.
Supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) walk with party flags during an election campaign in Kolkata on Sunday, May 4.
Women and children attend an election rally in Amethi, India, on Saturday, May 3.
A police officer patrols during curfew in the Maisuma locality of Srinagar, India, on Friday, May 2.
A Kashmiri Muslim woman confronts Indian police after they arrested a youth during a protest in Srinagar on May 2.
An Indian soldier stands in the middle of an empty Srinagar street Wednesday, April 30, following calls by rebels and separatist politicians to boycott the parliamentary elections.
A soldier helps voters locate their polling station in the village of Sultanwind, near Amritsar, India, on April 30.
Election officials distribute electronic voting machines and other material to polling officials in Howrah, India, on Tuesday, April 29.
Police conduct a security check Monday, April 28, before voting in Srinagar.
A supporter listens to Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati during an election rally in Allahabad on Sunday, April 27.
Kashmiri Muslims watch from a window as an Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard near the site of an explosion near the venue where an election campaign rally was to take place in downtown Srinagar on April 27.
Sumaira Wani, wife of Zia-Ul-Haq, mourns by the body of her husband during his funeral in Hirpora, some 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Srinagar on Friday, April 25. Zia, an Indian poll official, was killed soon after voting in the ongoing election, when suspected rebels fatally shot him and wounded four others in an attack on a bus in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.
Unidentified relatives cry during the funeral procession of Zia-Ul-Haq in Hirpora on April 25.
An Indian Punjab State Police officer stands in front of a picture of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during an election rally by the two men April 25 in Bathinda, India.
Indian women cast their vote at a village near Sawai Madhopur, India, on Thursday, April 24.
An Indian woman gives her thumb impression before casting her vote in a village near Sawai Madhopur on April 24.
A polling official carries electronic voting machines at a distribution center in Gauhati, India, on Wednesday, April 23.
A woman casts her vote on the outskirts of Jaipur, India, on Thursday, April 17.
An elderly man casts his vote inside a polling station in Amroha, India, on April 17.
A supporter of the Peoples Democratic Party shouts slogans during an election campaign rally on the outskirts of Srinagar on April 17. Several separatist organizations have jointly appealed to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to boycott the Indian parliamentary elections.
A helicopter carrying Nagma, a Bollywood actress and Congress Party candidate from Meerut, takes off after an election rally on April 17.
Women arrive to vote at a polling station on April 17, in the desert state of Rajasthan.
People stand in line to cast their votes in Jaipur on April 17.
A voter casts her ballot at a polling booth in Doda, India, on April 17.
An Indian election official marks the finger of a voter with ink before she casts her ballot in Sambhar, India, on April 17.
An election official checks an electronic voting machine before taking it to polling stations at a distribution center in Siliguri, India, on Wednesday, April 16.
An election official carries an electronic voting machine across a makeshift bridge after picking it up from a distribution center in Doda on April 16.
Portraits of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, left, and Vice President Rahul Gandhi are seen at an election rally in Karimnagar, India, on April 16.
Security personnel load their luggage on a bus as they leave for various polling centers in Udhampur, India, on Tuesday, April 15.
A young girl watches an election campaign rally from her house in Rawalpora, India, on April 15.
Supporters of India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party dance during a campaign rally in Udhampur on April 15.
A worker arranges masks of Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Narendra Modi at a printing press in Ahmedabad, India, on Saturday, April 12.
A woman carries her child and waits for her identity to be checked before voting in Diphu, India, on April 12.
Rahul Gandhi, one of the leading candidates for prime minister, waves to supporters in Amethi, India, as he arrives to file his nomination on April 12.
Congress Party supporters hold flags as they walk home from a Gandhi rally April 12 in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Gaurav Shrinivas Sharma, a climber nicknamed Indian Spiderman, campaigns in Mumbai, India, on Friday, April 11. Sharma is an independent candidate from the South Mumbai constituency.
People in Doda wave as a helicopter carrying Gandhi leaves after a campaign rally on April 11.
Indian Muslims wait outside a polling booth to cast their votes on Thursday, April 10.
A paramilitary soldier stands guard inside a room containing ballot boxes on April 10.
A woman casts her vote in Muzaffarnagar, India, on April 10.
Voters wait for their identities to be verified before casting their ballots April 10 in Haryana, India.
A woman points out her photo before casting her vote in New Delhi on April 10.
Jyoti Amge, a first-time voter and the world’s shortest woman according to Guinness World Records, gets her finger marked with ink after voting in Nagpur, India, on April 10.
A woman is given directions by a polling station officer in Haryana on April 10.
Voters leave a polling station in Muzaffarnagar on April 10.
A polling officer checks the number of an electronic voting machine after it was deposited in Senapati, India, on Wednesday, April 9.
A polling official marks a voter’s finger with ink in Senapati on April 9.
An elderly man casts his vote in Manipur, India, on April 9.
An official checks a voter’s identity card in Agartala, India, on Monday, April 7.
People wait in lines to cast their votes in Agartala on April 7.
An election official checks the identity of a voter on April 7.
A woman with a baby casts her vote inside a polling center at Misamora Sapori, an island in the Brahmaputra River, on April 7.
Rahul Gandhi addresses supporters during an election rally in Bangalore, India, on April 7. Gandhi’s great-grandfather, grandmother and father have all served as prime minister.
Running against Gandhi is Narendra Modi, chief minister of the western state of Gujarat with a reputation as a tough, “can-do” administrator.
Indians in Dibrugarh stand in a line to cast their vote on April 7.
An election officer uses ink to mark a voter’s finger at a polling station in Dibrugarh on April 7.
A polling officer in Agartala looks for a voter’s name in the registered voter list April 7.
A polling official in Dibrugarh tests an electronic voting machine prior to the start of voting April 7.
People wait in line to cast their votes during the first phase of voting in Dibrugarh.
Women voters wait outside a polling station in Dibrugarh on April 7.
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New Delhi (CNN) — Fresh from a landslide victory, Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party celebrated in a parade, as supporters lined the streets in the capital, waving flags of the party and holding balloons.
Modi’s party won 282 of 543 parliamentary seats, according to the country’s election commission, bringing a clear majority and a resounding mandate to a single party to rule the world’s largest democracy.
Modi, 63, is expected to officially be sworn in as India’s new Prime Minister on May 21. He will have to shoulder great expectations, as voters flocked to his party on his pledge to reform the nation’s slowed economy.
Prime Minister says goodbye
New Indian leader’s controversial past
Meet Narendra Modi, India’s next PM
Meanwhile, outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh submitted his resignation and made his last address to the nation, recalling his background from the subcontinent’s bloody division into India and Pakistan in 1947.
“I owe everything to this country, this great land of ours where I, an underprivileged child of (the) partition, was empowered enough to rise and occupy high office. It is both a debt that I will never be able to repay and a decoration that I will always wear with pride,” Singh said.
Singh, 82, leaves the office with a divided legacy. While his performance as finance minister in the 1990s has been praised for opening up India’s economy, his recent years as Prime Minister were pockmarked by a spate of high-profile corruption scandals involving his Congress Party, as well as stalled reforms and a drop in growth.
“Friends, I am confident about the future of India. I firmly believe that the emergence of India as a major powerhouse of the evolving global economy is an idea whose time has come,” Singh said in his TV address.
He concluded his speech by wishing Modi’s government well and saying he prayed for “even greater successes for our nation.”
PM: I wish the incoming government every success as it embarks on its task and pray for even greater successes for our nation.
Jai Hind.
— Dr Manmohan Singh (@PMOIndia) May 17, 2014
Modi’s background
Modi is widely viewed as pro-business and pro-growth. India’s stock market surged Friday as initial results suggested a huge lead for Modi and his party.
The former tea seller sprang into the national spotlight for his work in the state of Gujarat, where he cultivated an image of a man who gets things done.
Congress Party ‘headed to defeat’
W.H.: Modi welcome in the United States
Gujarat, which contains 60 million people, has seen China-like rates of growth in recent years, which the rest of the country has eyed enviously. The “Gujarat model” of development means a focus on infrastructure, urbanization and eradicating red tape.
His past is not without controversy. Throughout his campaign, his relationship with the country’s huge Muslim minority came under scrutiny.
In 2002, Gujarat state was wracked with anti-Muslim violence, in which more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. Modi, the state’s chief minister, was criticized for not doing enough to halt the violence, but a Supreme Court-ordered investigation absolved him of blame last year.
The United States denied Modi a visa in 2005 over the anti-Muslim violence, but on Friday, President Barack Obama called Modi to congratulate him on winning the election and to invite him to Washington, according to the White House.
The visa issue could add to what has already been a strained relationship between the two nations — complicated by a case involving an Indian diplomat who was arrested last year in New York.
CNN’s Ravi Agrawal and Mallika Kapur contributed to this report.
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