The US praised India’s elections, calling them the largest exercise of voting in any country ever, but didn’t comment on the lack of Muslim representation from the ruling BJP in the Lok Sabha.
The general elections in India took place from April 19 to June 1 in seven phases to elect 543 members of the Lok Sabha. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won the election, and Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister for a record third straight term on June 9.
“We celebrate the election that happened in India; it was the largest exercise of the electoral franchise in any country anytime in history,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
He was responding to a question about the recent election results and the representation of Muslims in the Indian Parliament. However, Miller did not answer this question, stating that it is up to the people of India to decide.
This year, 24 Muslim candidates won the Lok Sabha elections across the country, but none of them are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“I am just not going to comment on the Indian elections other than what we have said before, which is the electoral matters are matters for the Indian people to decide,” he said.
“For specific results of that election, it’s just not something we comment on,” Miller said.
