Voting for India's elections begin, Modi anticipated to win 3rd term
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Polls opened at 102 constituencies across India and will carry on for the next six weeks until June 1. Results will be counted and announced on June 4.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets during the unveiling of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party’s election manifesto in New Delhi, India, April 14, 2024. (AP)
Voting for India's general elections kicked off on Friday as analysts believe that PM Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is due to claim victory and score him a third term in office.
This marks the largest exercise of elections in the world, with more than 969 million voters; the equivalent of more than 10% of the world’s population.
Polls opened at 102 constituencies across India and will carry on for the next six weeks until June 1, while all results will be counted and announced on June 4.
However, Modi's nationalist policies may prove to be costly, since 200 million Muslims live in India and have been subjected to persecution, discriminatory laws and documented violence by the BJP-led state.
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Tough spots
Milan Vaishnav, the director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, called the elections a "referendum on a decade of Modi’s governance."
However, Vaishnav clarified that recent governmental actions have undermined the opposition, referring to attacks on opposition figures before the elections.
"There’s no doubt that this government has used all of the tools in its toolkit to try to shape the playing field of this election," he added.
Ajay Lakhotra, a law student from Jammu City, said he would be voting for Congress and against the BJP on Friday, citing the high unemployment rate.
“If we look at the BJP, in their past two terms, their policies have been focused on communal politics and against the idea of India,” said Lakhotra.
“Under the BJP, our country is going towards extremism. As a young voter, this concerns me: I want development, better jobs, and a country that offers equal opportunities to people.”
Youngish Chopdar, a 35-year-old Muslim who owns a restaurant in Jaipur, said he feared another BJP term for the minorities.
“I will be voting for Congress because that is the only solution to counter the BJP’s politics of dividing India,” he said. “As a Muslim, I do not see a safe future if the BJP comes to power again. We need a strong opposition. In this situation, voting against the BJP is a revolutionary act.”
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Crackdown on opposition
Last month, senior Indian opposition politician Arvind Kejriwal was transferred to a high-security prison Monday in a case his supporters claim is politically motivated to benefit Modi right before the elections.
AAP leader and Delhi Finance Minister Atishi Marlena claims that Kejriwal has been arrested to prevent him from campaigning in the general elections, saying "This is a way to steal elections."
The gap between political parties, particularly the BJP and its opponents, widened significantly after the Modi government introduced electoral bonds in 2017. These bonds allowed for unlimited anonymous donations to political parties, raising concerns about transparency and accountability in political funding.
