Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance is projected to win a majority in the general election, an exit poll summary by the NDTV news channel said.
The summary of two exit polls projected the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could win more than 350 seats in the 543-member lower house of parliament, where 272 is needed for a simple majority.
The NDA won 353 in the 2019 election.
The opposition INDIA alliance led by the Congress party was predicted to win more than 120 seats.
Exit polls have a patchy record in India as they have often got election outcomes wrong, with analysts saying it is a challenge to get them right in the large and diverse country.
Nearly one billion people were eligible to vote in the seven-phase election that began on April 19 and was held in scorching summer heat in many parts.
The Election Commission will count votes polled in electronic voting machines on June 4 and results are expected the same day.
A victory for Modi, 73, will make him only the second prime minister after independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru to win three consecutive terms.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture.
US President-elect Donald Trump said at his sentencing on Friday for his criminal conviction stemming from hush money paid to an adult movie star that the case has been a "terrible experience."
Wildfires menacing Los Angeles have killed at least 10 people and devoured nearly 10,000 structures, with five fires burning into a third night into Friday as dry desert winds fanning the flames again gathered strength.
An official Palestinian tally of direct deaths in the Israel-Hamas war likely undercounted the number of casualties by 41 per cent through the middle of 2024 as the Gaza Strip's healthcare infrastructure unravelled, according to a study published on Thursday.
Israel confirmed that a hostage found killed in Gaza was Hamza Ziyadne, the son of another hostage, Youssef Ziyadne, found dead alongside him in an underground tunnel near the southern city of Rafah.