The world’s largest democracy appears on track to have its first majority government in a quarter of a century.

After more than 550-million votes cast over a five-week voting process, India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is on track to win enough seats to win a clear majority, rather than having to cobble together the kind of loose coalition that has led to instability in governments since 1989.

The victory for the right-wing BJP’s Narendra Modi is also a stern rebuke for the centre-left Congress Party that has dominated Indian politics since the country gained independence from Britain. It is turning into a crushing defeat for the scandal-plagued party and its leader, Rahul Gandhi, the grandson of Indira Gandhi and great-grandson of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.