Italian PM Giordano Meloni congratulates PM Modi on winning for the third time, US praises elections

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his victory in the third consecutive term and said she will continue to work closely with the Indian government to deepen ties between Italy and India.

“Congratulations to Narendra Modi on his new electoral victory and my warm wishes for the good work. (It is) certain that we will continue to work together to strengthen the friendship that unites Italy and India and to strengthen cooperation on the various issues that link us, for the good of our nations and our peoples,” Meloni said.

Many other world leaders as well as neighbouring countries have congratulated the Prime Minister on his victory for the third time. After the election results became clear, leaders of Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives also sent congratulatory messages to Narendra Modi.

Meanwhile, the US praised India’s parliamentary elections, calling it the “greatest experiment of democracy in history”, though it refrained from commenting on the election results.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller praised the Indian government and its voters for successfully completing the massive electoral process. “On behalf of the United States, we want to congratulate the Indian government and the voters there for successfully completing and participating in such a massive electoral undertaking, and we look forward to seeing the final results,” he said during his daily news briefing.

Miller emphasised the US stance of not commenting on election winners and losers across the world. “I am also not going to comment on winners and losers in elections, as is the case with us across the world. What is important for us and what we have seen over the last six weeks is the greatest experiment of democracy in history as Indian people came out to vote,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to form a government for the third consecutive time with the BJP-led NDA winning a majority in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

In the elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won or is leading on 240 seats, and has emerged as the largest party in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

The BJP’s key allies, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)), are leading or winning in 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar respectively. With the support of other allies, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is on its way to reach the 272-majority mark.