NEW DELHI — TO six-week national elections In India it is a referendum on Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi The decade in power came to an end on Saturday as the final phase of voting began.
The election is considered one of the most consequential in Indian history. If Modi wins, he will be only the second Indian leader to retain power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister.
The seventh round of elections covers 57 constituencies in seven states and one union territory. It will complete a national election to fill the 543 seats in the powerful lower house of parliament. Almost 970 million voters (more than 10% of the world’s population) had the right to elect a new parliament for five years. More than 8,300 candidates ran for office.
Most polls show Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party leading the broad opposition alliance challenging them, led by the Congress Party. Votes will be counted on Tuesday and results are expected by the end of the day.
Modi’s campaign, running for a third consecutive term, began on a platform of economic progress. He has promised to help the poor and make India a developed nation by 2047. But the campaign has become increasingly strident in recent weeks as intensified polarizing rhetoric in consecutive inflammatory speeches aimed at the country’s Muslim minority, which represents 14% of India’s 1.4 billion people.
After campaigning ended on Thursday, Modi went to a memorial site honoring a famous Hindu saint to meditate on national television. The opposition Congress party called it a political stunt and said he violates electoral rules since the campaign period has ended.
When elections began in April, Modi and his BJP were widely expected to win another term.
Since he first came to power in 2014, Modi has enjoyed immense popularity. His supporters see him as a strong, self-made leader who has improved India’s standing in the world, and credit his pro-business policies with making the economy the fifth largest in the world.
At the same time, there have been blatant attacks and hate speech against minorities, particularly Muslims, during his rule. Indian democracyhis critics say, he is faltering and Modi is increasingly The line between religion and state was blurred..
But as the campaign progressed, his party faced stiff resistance from the opposition alliance and its main face, Rahul Gandhi of the Congress Party. They have attacked Modi for his Hindu nationalist politics and hope to benefit from growing economic discontent.
Pre-election polls showed that voters were increasingly concerned about unemployment, rising food prices and a general feeling that only a small portion of Indians have benefited despite rapid economic growth under Modi, making the race appear closer than initially anticipated.
In Kolkata, capital of West Bengal, voters queued outside polling stations early Saturday morning to avoid the scorching heat, and temperatures are expected to reach 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 Fahrenheit). Modi is challenged there by the state’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, who heads the regional Trinamool Congress party.
“There is now a shortage of jobs in the current market. I will vote for the government that can improve employment. And I hope those who cannot get jobs will get them,” said Ankit Samaddar.
In this election, Modi’s BJP, which controls much of the Hindi-speaking northern and central parts of India, sought to expand his influence venturing into the eastern and southern states of the country, where regional parties have greater influence.
The BJP also opted to consolidate the votes among the Hindu majority, which represents 80% of the population, after Modi inaugurated a highly sought-after Hindu temple at the site of a mosque razed in January. Many saw it as the unofficial start of his campaign, but analysts said enthusiasm for the temple might not be enough to generate votes.
Instead, Modi ramped up anti-Muslim rhetoric after voter turnout fell slightly below 2019 numbers in the early rounds of the 2024 elections.
This was seen as a tactic to energize his core base of Hindu voters. But analysts say it also reflected the lack of a major national issue to help Modi propel his BJP to electoral victory, as he has done before.
In 2014, Modi’s status as a political outsider cracking down on deep-rooted corruption won over voters disillusioned with decades of dynastic politics. And in 2019, he swept the polls due to a wave of nationalism after his government launched airstrikes against rival Pakistan in response to a suicide bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian soldiers.
But this time things are different, analysts say, giving a potential boost to Modi’s political rivals.
“The opposition somehow managed to derail his plan by focusing the narrative on local issues, such as unemployment and the economy. In these elections, people vote keeping in mind various issues,” said Rasheed Kidwai, political analyst.
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Associated Press video journalist Shonal Ganguly contributed from Kolkata, India.
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