But after long delays in results that prompted further allegations the military had engaged in vote-rigging, the army-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) declared victory as the party with the largest number of seats. However, to form a government, the party founded by the three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be forced to cut deals with rivals and independents.
The PPP, whose popularity is largely limited to its Sindh heartland, also did better than expected, with leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari saying early results were “very encouraging”. The PML-N and PPP joined forces with minor parties to boot Khan from office in April 2022 after his PTI had won a slender majority in the 2018 election.
“We don’t have enough of a majority to run the government ourselves, therefore we invite the other parties and candidates who have been successful to work with us,” Mr Sharif said at his party headquarters in Lahore.
Imran Khan yesterday claimed victory in the general election in an audio-visual message created using artificial intelligence and shared on his X social media account. Imran Khan heads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The PTI had defied a months-long crackdown that crippled campaigning and forced their candidates to run as independents with a combined showing in Thursday’s election that still challenged their chief rivals.
Imran Khan also rejected rival Nawaz Sharif’s earlier claim to victory. Khan called on his supporters to celebrate a win that was achieved despite what he calls a crackdown on his party.
A slow counting process showed independents had won at least 99 seats — 88 of them loyal to Khan — by Saturday morning.
PML-N took 71 and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) snapped up 53, with 15 of the elected 266-seat National Assembly still to be announced.
Minor parties between them shared 27 seats — including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which took 17 — that are likely to be of great interest to PTI in coming days.
If PTI’s independents join one of them, they can take a share of the further 70 unelected seats reserved for women and religious minorities, which are allocated according to party performance in the contested vote.

With inputs from AFP

The BJP will get 370 seats and the NDA more than 400 in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and form the government for a third consecutive term under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said here on Saturday.

Mr Shah asserted that there is no suspense over the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls and even the Congress and other opposition parties have realised that they will again have to sit in the opposition benches.

“We have abrogated Article 370 (of the Constitution, which gave a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir). So we believe that the people of the country will bless the BJP with 370 seats and the NDA with over 400 seats,” Mr Shah said at the ET NOW Global Business Summit 2024.

Asked about the possibility of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), headed by Jayant Choudhary, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and some other regional parties joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the home minister said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “believes in family planning but not in politics”, giving an indication that more parties may join the ruling coalition.

When pressed further on the SAD, he said, “Talks are going on but nothing has been finalised.” Mr Shah said the 2024 polls will not be an election between the NDA and the INDIA opposition bloc, but between development and those who give mere slogans.

Asked about the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said the Nehru-Gandhi scion has no right to go ahead with such a march as his party was responsible for the country’s partition in 1947.

On the timing of a white paper tabled by the government in Parliament, Mr Shah said it was necessary as the country has full right to know what mess the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) left behind when it lost power in 2014.

“At that time (2014), the economy was in a bad shape. There were scams everywhere. Foreign investment was not coming. Had we taken out a white paper at that time, it would have given a wrong message to the world.

“But after 10 years, our government has revived the economy, brought foreign investment and there is no corruption at all. So it is the right time to publish the white paper,” he said.

On the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the home minister said the people of the country believed for 500-550 years that the temple should be built at the place where Lord Ram was born.

“However, due to the politics of appeasement and citing law and order, the construction of the Ram temple was not allowed,” he said.

On the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Mr Shah said the law, enacted in 2019, will be implemented before the Lok Sabha polls after issuing the rules in this regard.

“Our Muslim brothers are being misled and instigated (against the CAA). The CAA is only meant to give citizenship to those who came to India after facing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. It is not for snatching anyone’s Indian citizenship,” he said.

On a Uniform Civil Code, Mr Shah said it is a constitutional agenda, signed by the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and others.

“But the Congress had ignored it due to appeasement. The enforcement of the UCC in Uttarakhand is a social change. It will be discussed on all forums and face legal scrutiny. A secular country cannot have religion-based civil codes,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Serbian tennis player Dejana Radanovic, who was in India recently as part of three International Tennis Federation tournaments, is facing backlash for her racist comments about India.

In a series of social media posts, Radanovic criticised the “food, traffic and hygiene” of India.

In one of her posts, Radanovic, who spent nearly two weeks in the country, wrote, “Adios India. See you never ever ever ever EVER again,” along with an image of the airport.

Upon reaching Munich, Radanovic shared another post that read, “Hello civilization. Only those who have experienced something like India for 3 weeks can understand the feeling.”

About the traffic she wrote, “But I gotta admit that they are amazing drivers and traffic was interesting sometimes. You may never know how your day will look like, what is going to happen and everyone is honking all the time, like in traffic rush game.” 

Amidst mounting backlash about the posts, Radanovic has shared another Instagram Stories update, seemingly explaining her stance. Radanovic has maintained that her comments were not about the people of India but about the country and therefore, cannot be called racist.

She wrote, “Omg can’t believe what things we need to talk about really. I didn’t like India – the country. I didn’t like the food, traffic, hygiene (worms in the food, yellow pillows and dirty bed linen in the hotel, not knowing how to use a roundabout etc.)

Further, Radanovic wrote, “If you come to my country, Serbia, and you don’t like all those same things, that means you are a racist??? What the hell does that have to do with racism?! I have friends of all nationalities and colours so don’t go there cause it’s an absolute NONSENSE!”

Radanovic, 27, participated in three W50 events in Pune, Bengaluru, and Indore during her Indian tour.