India will go to the polls in phases starting April 19 to elect a new parliament, the country’s election authority said today, in the world’s largest election process in which nearly a billion people are eligible to vote.
The election pits two-time prime minister Narendra Modi and his regional allies against an alliance of 24 opposition parties, with opinion polls predicting a comfortable victory for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A victory would make Modi, 73, only the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru, independence hero and India’s first prime minister, to win a third consecutive term.
Modi and his party have been campaigning for months. The prime minister flies across the country almost daily, launching new schemes, making announcements, attending religious functions and addressing public and private gatherings.
In his speeches, Modi touts the economic growth during his two terms that has made India the fastest growing major economy in the world right now, investing in infrastructure as well as social programs for the poor.
A major topic of discussion is also his party’s agenda for reawakening Hinduism, including the inauguration of a large temple for Lord Ram in place of a damaged mosque.
Modi has targeted 370 seats for the BJP and 400+ for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) he leads, out of a total of 543 lower house seats, up from 303 for the BJP and 350 for the NDA he secured in 2019.
The 2019 results were the best ever achieved by the party which was founded in 1980.
Opposing Modi is an alliance of about 24 opposition parties led by the largest opposition Congress party, the so-called “INDIA” or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.
The alliance formed last year is, however, struggling to stay united and divide the seats in such a way that it can field an opponent for each BJP candidate.
Congress, which ruled India for 54 of its 76 years of independence from Britain, has sunk to historic lows since Modi came to power and is struggling to regain supporters.
The party is highlighting unemployment, the hardships faced by rural people, what it calls cooperative capitalism, the need for greater inclusion for so-called underdeveloped castes and the need to end religious polarization and hatred in its bid to defeat Modi. .
Nearly 970 million people are registered voters in over a million polling stations in a massive election exercise where 2,400 parties are likely to participate.
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