US commends Indian government and people for successful elections

Washington, June 5 (PTI): The United States has commended the Government and people of India for successfully participating in and completing the Lok Sabha elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to form government for the third consecutive time as the BJP-led NDA won a majority in the Lok Sabha though it suffered a crushing defeat in three Hindi-speaking states in the last election which was seen as a referendum on his popularity.

The Election Commission of India has declared the results of 542 out of 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, in which the BJP has won 240 seats and the Congress has won 99 seats.

“On behalf of the United States, we want to congratulate the Indian government and the voters there for successfully participating in and completing this huge electoral task, and we look forward to seeing the final results,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters at his daily news conference on Tuesday.

He was responding to a question on the Lok Sabha elections in India, in which the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) crossed the 272-seat mark, paving the way for Modi for a third consecutive term.

When asked to comment on the results, Miller said, “First of all, our understanding is that the election results have not been finalized yet. So we will wait until the election results are finalized before making any definitive comment.”

“I am not going to comment on winners and losers in the election, as happens across the world. What is important for us and what we have seen in the last six weeks is that the Indian people have come out to vote in the largest experiment of democracy in history,” he said.

He also refuted reports of outside influence in Indian elections by Western powers, including the US.

“We will always express our views clearly and openly. We express them privately with foreign governments and when we have something we are concerned about, we express them publicly as well, including from this platform. That’s what I have done. But this is in no way an attempt to influence elections in India or anywhere else,” Miller said.

He said he hoped the close partnership between the US and India would continue.

“There’s a very good partnership at the government level and at the people-to-people level, and I’m very hopeful that will continue,” Miller said.

(This story is published as part of an auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No edits have been made by ABP Live to the headline or body text.)