On Friday morning, the first polling stations in India opened, including in the city of Haridwar in the state of Uttarakhand in the north of the country, the news agency AFP’s journalists on the spot report.
The election will last six weeks and is divided into different phases. It was the first phase that started on Friday. The last phase ends on 1 June.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to win his third term on a platform of growth, welfare and Hindu nationalism. Modi represents the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Against him, he has an alliance of a couple of dozen parties that promise greater state contributions to the individual and a more targeted fight for social equality.
Modi urges his countrymen to exercise their right to vote and to turn out in large numbers. Every single vote counts, he says, and especially asks young and first-time voters to go to the polling stations.
The first phase of the election includes 166 million voters in 102 constituencies in 21 states and territories, from Tamil Nadu in the south to Arunachal Pradesh in the Himalayas towards the border with China.
Several opinion polls show that Modi will get a clear majority in the election, despite growing concerns about unemployment, inflation and conditions in rural agriculture.
Modi is set to win around 370 of the 543 seats in the National Assembly, up from 303 in 2019. With a two-thirds majority within reach, Modi’s party can introduce sweeping changes to the constitution.
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2024-04-21 01:57:34