Colombo [Sri Lanka], June 4 (ANI): Extending his warmest wishes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the win of the BJP-led coalition in the parliamentary polls in the country, President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday said Sri Lanka looks forward to further strengthening the partnership with India.
In a post on X, Sri Lanka's president said, "I extend my warmest felicitations to the @BJP4India led NDA on its victory, demonstrating the confidence of the Indian people in the progress and prosperity under the leadership of PM @narendramodi."
"As the closest neighbour Sri Lanka looks forward to further strengthening the partnership with India," he added.
Recently, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry visited India and while speaking to ANI he affirmed his country's commitment to safeguarding India's national security interests, stating that Colombo, as a responsible neighbour, will not allow anyone to harm India's security.
Meanwhile, two weeks ago India's fintech company PhonePe Unified Payments Interface (UPI) was launched in Sri Lanka.
On May 15, PhonePe announced that it has enabled UPI payment acceptance in collaboration with LankaPay. In a statement, PhonePe announced that its app users visiting Sri Lanka can now make payments using UPI across LankaPayQR merchants across the nation.
As the counting of votes is underway, the NDA, led by the BJP, is leading in the Lok Sabha polls.
The prime minister spearheaded the BJP's campaign. PM Modi took part in more than 200 public events, like as roadshows and rallies.
In the midst of strict security, the vote counting began at 8 am. The Lok Sabha election held this year was the second-longest since the country's inaugural poll in 1951-1952. To form a government, a party or coalition must hold a majority of 272 seats.
"Our citizens in India have full faith in the party, and today's victory is a victory of the people," said PM Modi on Tuesday evening.
Prime Minister Modi has defeated Congress candidate Ajay Rai by a margin of 1,52,513 votes, according to the Election Commission of India.
Most exit polls predicted a straight term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with quite a few of them projecting a two-thirds majority for the ruling BJP-led NDA.
The mammoth seven-phase election - the world's largest democratic exercise - began on April 19 and ended on Saturday. (ANI)
