US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller praises India’s Lok Sabha elections

The United States on Tuesday praised India’s parliamentary elections, calling it the “largest election in the history of democracy”, but refrained from commenting on the election results.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller praised the Indian government and its voters for the successful completion of the massive electoral process.

Miller reiterated the US stance of not commenting on electoral winners and losers around the world and said he was eager to see the final results.

Miller made the remarks while responding to a question on the Lok Sabha elections in India, even as results for some seats were still awaited on Tuesday.

“The election results have not been finalized yet. So we will wait for the finalization of the election results before making any definitive comments. I am also not going to comment on the winners and losers of the elections, as is the case with us across the world, what is important for us and what we have seen over the last six weeks is the greatest exercise in democracy in history as the Indian people have come out to vote. On behalf of the United States, we want to congratulate the Indian government and the voters there for successfully conducting and participating in such a massive electoral undertaking. We look forward to seeing the final results,” Matthew Miller said.

Miller also refuted reports of outside influence in the 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.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to return to power at the Centre for a third term, though his BJP-led NDA alliance fell short of expectations due to a surprisingly strong performance by the opposition Indian Bloc.

The BJP won 240 out of 543 Lok Sabha seats and the Congress won 99 seats.

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