Millions of Indians across 96 constituencies voted as the country’s mammoth six-week election passed its halfway point.
Monday’s fourth-round elections in nine states and one union territory are crucial for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive term but faces voter fury over unemployment and inflation.
Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies face an alliance of more than two dozen opposition parties, including the main rival party, the Indian National Congress.
The world’s most populous nation began voting on April 19 in seven-phase elections in which nearly a billion people are eligible to elect 543 members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. Votes will be counted on June 4th.
Monday’s vote for 96 seats in parliament largely covered the southern and eastern states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, where the BJP is not as strong as in the north and west of the country.
Some seats in BJP strongholds in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh also went to the polls on Monday, while crucial seats in the states of Maharashtra and Bihar, where the right-wing party rules in alliances with regional parties, were also up for grabs in the fourth stage.
With the fourth phase voting, the fate of 379 of the 543 constituencies was sealed.
Key seat in Kashmir goes to polls
Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir, also voted for the first time since Modi’s 2019 decision to remove the region’s semi-autonomy.
According to analysts, the BJP is not contesting this issue as the result could contradict Modi’s narrative of a peaceful and more integrated Kashmir.
“I voted after more than two decades… just to get relief from what we are facing here,” said Bashir Ahmad Lala, 67, a resident of Srinagar.
Political scientist Christopher Snedden told Al Jazeera that the election was significant in the Muslim-majority valley area of the Himalayan region.
“On the one hand, Modi says ‘yes, we want everyone to be part of India’. But on the other hand, he has said some things that have been a little worrying for Muslims,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to the Indian leader’s polarizing rhetoric in campaign speeches.
At several rallies, Modi called Muslims “infiltrators” and accused the Congress Party of conspiring to redistribute wealth from the country’s Hindus to Muslims, who make up 14 percent of the country’s more than 1.4 billion people.
“And people in the Kashmir Valley are aware of this, but they are also deeply disenchanted with the central government,” Snedden said.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947. Both claim it in full and have fought two wars for control of the Himalayan region. Rebel groups opposing Indian rule waged an armed rebellion in 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of supporting the rebels, an accusation Islamabad denies.
The conflict killed tens of thousands of soldiers, rebels and civilians.
‘Hindus vs Muslims’
Analysts have raised doubts about whether the BJP and its allies will be able to pull off the landslide victory predicted by opinion polls. They also say that a lower turnout this year compared to the 2019 elections led Modi to change the course of his campaign after the first phase.
In several speeches, Modi accused Congress of planning to extend social benefits to Muslims at the expense of disadvantaged tribal groups and Hindu castes. Last month, he said Congress planned to redistribute wealth from the Hindu majority among Muslims, whom he called “infiltrators” who have “more children.”
The Congress denied making such promises and said Modi was shaken by the turnout, which the BJP denied. The opposition party advocates better representation and welfare programs for poor and disadvantaged groups, claiming that wealth inequality has worsened during Modi’s 10-year rule.
“Do not be deterred by the diversionary tactics of hateful speeches that divide society,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a message to voters.
Around 80% of India’s 1.4 billion people are Hindus, but the country also has the third largest Muslim population in the world, with around 200 million people. Polls suggest voters are most concerned about unemployment and price increases.
Nikhilesh Mishra, a 42-year-old bank employee from Samastipur district in Bihar, said: “Raising issues between Hindus and Muslims will get us nowhere.”
He said the BJP-led Modi alliance in Bihar, which secured a landslide majority in the 2019 elections, has failed to bring development to the state, which is among the poorest in India.
Mishra said rising inflation and unemployment are driving youth to migrate to other states, draining their talent. “We want development… This time, we want changes in government.”
“I will vote for someone who is educated and can develop our region,” said Pradipta Kumar Sethi, a resident of Koraput tribal district in Odisha.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
