Indian elections largest exercise of electoral franchise: US

Praising India's elections, the US has described it as the largest exercise of the electoral franchise in any country at any time in history but refrained from commenting on no Muslim representation from the ruling BJP in the Lok Sabha.

General elections were held in India from 19 April to 1 June in seven phases to elect all 543 members of the Lok Sabha. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won the election and Narendra Modi was sworn in as the prime minister for a record third straight term on 9 June.

“We celebrate the election that happened in India; it was the largest exercise of the electoral franchise in any country anytime in history,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Thursday, 13 June, at his daily news conference.

He was responding to a question on the recent election results and representation of Muslims in the Indian Parliament. Miller, however, refrained from responding to such a question asserting that this is for the people of India to decide.

As many as 24 Muslim candidates across the country have won the Lok Sabha elections this year, but none is from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“I am just not going to comment on the Indian elections other than what we have said before, which is the electoral matters are matters for the Indian people to decide,” he said.

“For specific results of that election, it’s just not something we comment on,” Miller said.