Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to return to power with an even bigger majority in parliament after a mammoth general election that ended on Sunday, exit polls showed, a far better showing than expected in recent weeks.

Indian equities, rupee and bonds are set to rally on Monday after almost all exit polls suggested that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was likely to secure a clear mandate at the 2019 national elections.

Violent clashes broke out in West Bengal again on Sunday in the final phase of the staggered election that will decide whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns for a second term.

India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has one unwanted lead in this month's general election race - according to data from an electoral watchdog it is fielding the most candidates among the major parties who are facing criminal charges. Its main rival, Congress, is just a step behind.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in power for five years, attended his first news conference ever in India on Friday but took no questions, prompting taunts from journalists and from opposition parties seeking to oust him in an election that ends on Sunday.

Every morning around dawn, dozens of people gather by the dusty banks of a stream snaking through Shikrawa village, two hours south of India's capital, New Delhi, to do the same thing: defecate in the open.

For nearly a decade, Pragya Thakur was known mostly as the saffron-clad Hindu ascetic shuttling in and out of Indian courts, flanked by police, facing charges under an anti-terrorism law for plotting a bomb attack on Muslims.

Five days after a suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF personnel in February in the Kashmir Valley, playwright and director Abhishek Majumdar was forced to cancel a play looking at the behaviour of Indian security forces in the disputed region.

A loan waiver programme for farmers and privatisation of air and sea ports will be among the post-election priorities if India's opposition parties pull off an unexpected victory in the national vote, Telugu Desam Party leader N. Chandrababu Naidu told Reuters.

WhatsApp clones and software tools that cost as little as $14 are helping Indian digital marketers and political activists bypass anti-spam restrictions set up by the world's most popular messaging app, Reuters has found.