US to comment only after final results from India elections: State Dept

“What we have seen over the past six weeks is the largest democratic exercise in history,” spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

The United States will wait for the final results from India's general elections to offer a definitive comment, the US State Department has said.

FILE: US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller (AP)

“The election results have not been finalised. So we will wait for the finalisation of those results before we offer any definitive comment. I am also not going to comment on winners. What is important for us, and what we have seen over the past six weeks, is the largest democratic exercise in history as the Indian people came to the polls,” Miller said at a press briefing.

“On behalf of the United States, we want to congratulate the Government of India and the voters there, for successfully completing and participating in such a massive electoral undertaking. We look forward to seeing the final results,” he added.

Miller was also asked if there was any “interference” from the West, including the US, in the Indian elections. Replying in the negative, he stated that expressing views with foreign governments privately or publicly, is not an attempt to "influence" elections anywhere.

“We will always express our views openly and clearly. We express them with foreign governments privately and, when we have things that we are concerned about, we also express them publicly, including from this podium. That's what I have done. But that, in no way, is an attempt to influence an election in India or anywhere else,” he noted.

Further, Miller expected that the “close partnership” between the two nations will continue.

"There is a great partnership, both at the government level and at the people-to-people level, and I fully expect that to continue," he stated.