Control of the assembly in New Delhi is set to change hands, a feat that eluded the Indian prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata Party for nearly three decades.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national governing party has swept to victory in an important regional election in India’s capital, where voters previously rejected Mr. Modi’s Hindu-first platform for nearly three decades even as it expanded its footprint elsewhere across the vast country.
By late afternoon on Saturday, the counting of most of the votes in elections for New Delhi’s regional assembly showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party was comfortably forming the government with over 40 seats.
The incumbent Aam Aadmi party, which has governed the capital area for the past decade but has increasingly struggled against Mr. Modi’s efforts to crush it, was trailing with about 20 seats.
A party needs 36 seats in the 70-seat assembly to form the government.
“Development wins, good governance triumphs,” Mr. Modi said in a celebratory message on X.
Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, conceded the election in a video message, saying: “Whatever the people’s mandate, we accept it most humbly.”