Election Results Signal Huge Challenges Ahead For PM Modi

India's S&P BSE Sensex, fell 1.1% to 48,248.64 at 9:25 a.m. In Mumbai, on course for a one-week low. The benchmark gauge gained 1% so far this year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party lost an election in a key state he visited frequently before the recent virus surge forced him off the campaign trail, adding to growing signs of a backlash over his government's handling of the world's worst Covid-19 outbreak. Congratulations to Mamata Didi for @AITCofficial's win in West Bengal. The Centre will continue to extend all possible support to the West Bengal Government to fulfil people's aspirations and also to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. @MamataOfficial In West Bengal, incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress won around 72% of 292 seats up for grabs, while PM Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party took 77, according to results posted on the Election Commission of India on Monday. Last month, the prime minister predicted his party would win more than 200 seats in the state, which held voting over eight phases starting on March 27. PM Modi's opponents won in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, while his party kept power in the northeastern state of Assam and gained the federally-controlled territory of Puducherry, where it contested in alliance with a regional party. He conceded West Bengal in a series of posts on Twitter, congratulating Ms Banerjee while also noting the BJP made gains in the state. India's S&P BSE Sensex, fell 1.1% to 48,248.64 at 9:25 a.m. In Mumbai, on course for a one-week low. The benchmark gauge gained 1% so far this year.