Modi appreciates record turnout of voters

"2014 Lok Sabha elections will stand out for the increased turnout. Whenever polling would end for a particular phase, I would eagerly wait for the polling numbers and invariably my joy would increase seeing the jump in turnout.  Be it the cities or villages, old or young, men or women, everyone voted in large numbers. In most of the places it was sweltering, in some places there was rain and in some of the places in the hills it was cool apart from the hilly terrain but none of this deterred people from going out and voting," Modi said in  a blog post.

Appreciating  increasing turnout among youngsters, the Gujarat CM said: "Here I want to make a special mention for the increasing turnout among youngsters. Back in the day, voting was not believed to be ‘cool enough’ for a lot of youngsters. Today that is history. Voting is cool and rightly so! One needs to log in to Facebook or Twitter on polling day to see the number of Selfies my young friends are sharing. This is a very positive sign and I hope it continues in the times to come."

Modi said the ideology of different political parties might be different but all should work for the development of the nation.

"Yes, this has been a hard-fought election. It had its joyous moments and there were heated moments as well. Now is the time to put the heat and dust of campaign behind and look ahead. Irrespective of who wins on the 16th, the dreams of a billion Indians should not suffer. Yes, as political parties and candidates we have differing ideologies but our goal is one- to work for India and to fulfill the aspirations of our youth," Modi said.

He said: "This is the right time to look ahead. It is a time to connect with each other. Lets place people over politics, hope over despair, healing over hurting, inclusion over exclusion and development over divisiveness. It is natural for the spirit of bi-partisanship to get temporarily lost in the midst of an election campaign but now is the time to resurrect it."

Speaking on the violence which occurred in different phases during the nine-phase poll, Modi said: "It is unfortunate that we witnessed some untoward incidents during the poll process during which some lives were lost. I salute all those who were unfortunately martyred and offer my deepest condolences to their families. These brave individuals lived and died for democracy. It is our duty to ensure that their sacrifices do not go in vain. "

The last phase of the nine phased election in India to constitute a new Lok Sabha concluded on Monday where the country witnessed highest ever voter turnout of 66.38 percent.

Amid violence and clashes, the eastern Indian state of West Bengal registered a high turnout of nearly 80 percent voters, where voting was held across 17 seats, including south and north Kolkata seats.

While Bihar registered a balloting of 54 percent, the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh witnessed 55 percent voter turnout.