"a remarkable shift for the socially conservative country"

It's not remarkable because this is not a "socially conservative country".  Two years ago it was the first country in the world to vote (overwhelmingly) in favour of same sex marriage something that is still not legal in Germany, Australia or Italy.  Leo's sexuality and his Indian roots got very, very little coverage during the campaign despite efforts by those against him to damage him by talking about his opponent as a great "family man".  Internationally this will get big coverage but it's really nothing.