An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard outside a room where voting machines are stored as counting of votes in India's massive general elections begins in New Delhi, India, May 23, 2019.
Vote counting began May 23 morning in India's massive general elections, which have been forecast to keep Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party in power.In the world's largest democratic exercise, some 900 million people were registered to cast ballots for 542 seats in India's lower house of Parliament in seven phases of voting staggered over six weeks.
The election has been seen as a referendum on Modi, whose economic reforms haven't broadly succeeded but whose popularity as a social underdog in India's highly stratified society has endured.
Losing candidates and political parties have raised doubts about the accuracy and reliability of the electronic method, however, noting the machines are not used in Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States.Top opposition leaders met with Election Commission officials on Tuesday after videos appeared on social media showing some electronic voting machines being moved.
The party officials alleged that the machines were being moved in order to be altered, but the commission said the images showed unused machines being moved into storage.
India's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party claims victory in the country's general elections
and we know the result already.