Thousands of people have welcomed India’s next prime minister in the capital after he led his party to a resounding election victory.

Narendra Modi flashed a victory sign to his supporters and told them that the win “has created a new confidence among people”.

Results announced on Friday from the polls showed that Mr Modi and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won the most decisive election victory India has seen in three decades, sweeping the long-dominant Congress party from power.

Mr Modi was greeted by roaring crowds outside the BJP’s offices in New Delhi, where he met with the top leadership of the party to discuss the formation of a new government.

Mr Modi pulled off a mandate of staggering proportions, leaving him unfettered to pursue the agenda of economic revival and development that propelled him to victory.

What remains to be seen is how quickly Mr Modi, who has ruled Gujarat since 2001, can match the big expectations he has created in an electorate hungry for change.

“One might envy Narendra Modi his awesome electoral victory. But the challenges he faces as India’s 17th prime minister are scarcely enviable,” said Mohan Guruswamy, an economist long associated with the BJP.

For most of the past two years, Mr Modi, 63, has worked relentlessly to market himself as the one leader capable of waking this nation of 1.2 billion from its economic slumber, while trying to shake off allegations that he looked the other way amid riots in his home state in 2002 that killed 1,000 people.