IN BRIEF (Page 12)

India

PM Modi's party wins big in polls

India's ruling Hindu nationalist party won landslide victories in results announced on Saturday from key state legislative elections that are seen as a referendum on the performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nearly three-year-old government. The Election Commission said the BJP won 311 out of 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh's legislature. The party's president, Amit Shah, described it as "a historic verdict." In another northern state, Uttarakhand, the BJP won 56 of 70 seats and was leading in one other constituency, wresting power from the Congress party, the main opposition at the national level. The Congress party lost power by winning only 11 seats.