The Guardian view on Modi’s election disappointment: the winner is democracy in India | Editorial

The prime minister assumed he would sweep back to power in a landslide. Voters have wisely chosen otherwise

Nemesis has followed swift on the heels of NarendraModi's hubris. He is set to be the first Indianprime minister to serve a third term since its first, Jawaharlal Nehru. Yet rarely has an election victory looked more like defeat.

He boasted that he would win a third full majority in the world's largest democracy - suggesting his party would win as many as 400 seats - and said he had been sent by God. Instead of a coronation, he got a rebuke. Far from winning a landslide, his Bharatiya Janata party's seats fell from 303 to 240, leaving him reliant on political allies. The BJP had made a major push in the south and managed to take a seat in Kerala. But Mr Modi's vote slumped in his own constituency of Varanasi, in the north. Indian electors have humbled the strongman.