India's Modi sees hopes of a larger majority dashed by surging opposition in election

The celebratory drum beats rang out steadily outside the headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party in India's capital, New Delhi, on Tuesday, but there was increasingly less enthusiasm from the crowd of several hundred people, as the shock of India's election results set in.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi looked poised to secure a rare third term and declared victory on Tuesday evening, calling it "a historical feat in India's history" — even though his party appeared likely to lose a significant number of seats, falling shy of an outright majority.

The results mean the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will need to rely on smaller alliance partners to form a government.

"Today's victory is the biggest in the world," Modi told his supporters, calling it "a victory for Indians."

A third-consecutive term for Modi, after 10 years in office, is a feat not accomplished by any politician since the country's first post-independence prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Outside the BJP's headquarters, supporters were digesting the results and trying to make the best of them.

"For continuously 10 years, it's very difficult to maintain the same level. [Modi] did his best," said Delhi resident Alka Joshi, 58.

"We are very elated, because ... in spite of 26 parties against us, we still won," Joshi said, referring to the opposition alliance that had banded together to mount a collective front against the dominant BJP.

A few kilometres away, where supporters of the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress (known as the Congress Party), had gathered, there was jubilation.

"What has the BJP given us?" asked Congress supporter Richa Sharma, 39. "There is only unrest in the country and hatred in the country.

"This was our last hope to save democracy, to save the constitution."

The leading face of the party, Rahul Gandhi, heir to a political dynasty that has seen three generations serve as India's prime minister, echoed that idea as he commented on the initial results.

"It was in my mind since the start ... when the BJP cancelled our bank account, put chief ministers in prison," Gandhi said. "It was in my mind that the people of India would stand together to fight for their constitution."

India's secular values are enshrined in its constitution, and critics of Modi's BJP have accused the party of whittling away at the country's dedication to pluralism during its decade in power. A two-thirds majority in Parliament would have allowed permanent changes to that constitution.