Modi on course for election victory, exit polls show

Narendra Modi is set to become India's next prime minister, exit polls showed, with his opposition party and its allies forecast to sweep to a parliamentary majority in the world's biggest ever election. Modi, of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has electrified the lengthy contest with a media-savvy campaign that has hinged on vows to kickstart the economy and create jobs. Indian elections are notoriously hard to call, however, due to the country's diverse electorate and a parliamentary system in which local candidates hold great sway. Pre-election opinion polls and post-voting exit polls both have a patchy record. India's voting, spread over five weeks to reach the country's 815 million voters and move security forces around its varied terrain, ended at 6.00 pm on Monday. Results are due on May 16.