Indian leader’s party takes electoral hit amid virus surge

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi suffered a resounding defeat in a key state election on May 2, indicating his Hindu nationalist party's political strength may be slipping as the country struggles to contain an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases.

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was unable to dislodge West Bengal state's firebrand chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, after a hard-fought campaign.

On May 2 night, Modi took to Twitter to congratulate rival Banerjee's win. "The Centre will continue to extend all possible support to the West Bengal Government to fulfill people's aspirations and also to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic," he wrote.

His party also failed to win in two southern states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. But the BJP secured a second term in the northeastern state of Assam and an alliance with regional parties led it to victory in the union territory of Puducherry.

Even before the current virus surge, Modi's party faced stiff challenges in these local legislative elections. Following the disappointing results, Modi stands weakened but faces no threats to staying on as prime minister until his term ends in 2024.

"The BJP started running out of steam as the pandemic spread," political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay said.

"The verdict in West Bengal state will definitely weaken Modi's position," he added, but cautioned that the results needed to be studied further to determine how much they were a referendum on the BJP's handling of COVID-19.

In West Bengal, Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress picked up 213 seats out of 292, while the BJP secured 77, according to the Election Commission of India. Two went to other parties.

Supporters of the All India Trinamool Congress party, many without...