A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporter wearing a Narendra Modi mask celebrates after the release of initial poll results outside party headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday. The defeat of opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh and other states will reduce their ability to block Modi’s reform measures in the upper house of parliament, where members are chosen based on state election results. Exit polls released in the past week suggested a large BJP victory was possible. Even so, the scale of the victory was stark in a state that has long been divided along religious and caste lines. The BJP victory will "telegraph a powerful message from the electorate that it still trusts the government’s ability to get things done", he added.

Source: Bangkok Post March 11, 2017 08:00 UTC