Indian newspapers hail successful holding of general election

Indian newspapers Tuesday hailed the successful holding of a marathon general election which is set to land Bhratiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi as India' s next prime minister. The dailies also unanimously endorsed exit polls which said BJP- led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has won a devastating victory over the Congress and its United Progressive Alliance (UPA) . "Exit polls spell UPA's exit," said pro-BJP daily The Pioneer in its frontline, while the anti-BJP daily The Hindu said: "Exit polls sweeten countdown for NDA -- Congress headed for worst-ever showing". The economic daily Business Standard said in its frontline: " Modi home and dry: Exit polls", while The Economic Times said: " Modi Just 3 Days Away from 7-RCR," in reference to the address of the prime minister's residence in the Indian capital. The Indian Express said in its frontline: "BJP Surge, Congress Rout", "Most exit polls give Modi plus majority," and the Hindustan Times said" Exit polls: Enter Modi". The Times of India' s headline reads "Exit polls point to Modi entry in Delhi". The newspapers also congratulated the nation for holding the longest and most populous election in the world without any major incident. "What should have been a moment of voters' pride, as the Election Commission of India on Monday pulled off yet another miracle in concluding a nine-phase, five-week long mammoth exercise to elect 543 members to the 16th Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament), turned out to be mildly problematic," said the Hindu in its editorial.