NEW DELHI • Narendra Modi, India’s charismatic but polarizing prime minister, was headed Friday for a landslide election victory, propelling his Hindu nationalist party to back-to-back majorities in parliament for the first time in decades.

With most of the votes counted, Modi’s stunning reelection mirrored a global trend of right-wing populists sweeping to victory, from the United States to Brazil to Italy, often on a platform promoting a tough stand on national security, protectionist trade policies and putting up barriers to immigration.

The victory in India was widely seen as a referendum on Modi’s Hindu-first politics that some observers say have bred intolerance toward Muslims and other religious minorities, as well as his muscular stance on neighboring Pakistan, with whom India nearly went to war earlier this year.

“India wins yet again,” Modi exulted in a tweet.

Election Commission data by Friday showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party winning 287 out of the 525 seats in the Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of Parliament, well beyond the simple majority required to govern. The party’s top rival, the Indian National Congress led by Rahul Gandhi, won 50 seats. Its president, and the scion of modern India’s most powerful political dynasty, personally conceded his seat to BJP, signaling the end of an era.

The All India Trinamool Congress led by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee won 19 seats. Final results were not in for the remaining 42 seats and the final tally was not expected until later Friday.

Addressing thousands of party workers celebrating the outcome, Modi urged the world to “recognize India’s democratic power.” He attributed the party’s showing to his policies aimed at improving the lot of the nation’s poor.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives a giant floral garland from party leaders at their headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday. Modi’s party claimed it had won reelection with a commanding lead in Thursday’s vote count.

the associated press