Millions vote in Indian election with Narendra Modi chasing third term

25 May 2024, 05:44

India Election
India Election. Picture: PA

Saturday’s voting in 58 constituencies, including seven in New Delhi, will complete polling for 89.5% of 543 seats in the lower house of Parliament.

Millions of Indians were voting on Saturday in the next-to-last round of a gruelling national election with a combined opposition trying to rattle Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign for a third term.

Many people lined polling stations before the start of voting at 7am to avoid the blazing sun later in the day at the peak of Indian summer.

Saturday’s voting in 58 constituencies, including seven in New Delhi, will complete polling for 89.5% of 543 seats in the lower house of Parliament.

The voting for the remaining 57 seats on June 1 will wrap up a six-week election. The votes will be counted on June 4.

India Election
A voter is directed by a polling official as he registers to cast his vote in the sixth round of polling in India’s national election in New Delhi (Altaf Qadri/AP)

This election is considered one of the most consequential in India’s history and will test Mr Modi’s political dominance. If he 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.

A lower-than-expected voter turnout in the previous five rounds of voting seems to have left both sides guessing about the outcome of the election.

Temperatures are likely to rise above 45C in some places on Saturday. Election authorities said they are taking steps to ensure voters’ comfort, including setting up fans and tents and providing drinking water.

Most polls predict a win for Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is up against a broad opposition alliance led by the Indian National congress and powerful regional parties.

India Election
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP)

Mr Modi was involved in a highly acrimonious and mudslinging campaign with the opposition, led by Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family that has produced three prime ministers.

“When the polls began it felt like a one-horse race, with Modi leading from the front. But now we are seeing some kind of shift,” political analyst Rasheed Kidwai said.

“The opposition is doing better than expected and it appears that Modi’s party is rattled. That’s the reason you see Modi ramping up anti-Muslim rhetoric to polarise voters.”

Mr Modi ran his campaign like a presidential race, a referendum on his 10 years of rule. He claimed to help the poorest with charity, free health care, providing toilets in their homes, and helping women get free or cheap cooking gas cylinders.

But he changed tack after a poor turnout of voters in the first round of the election and began stirring Hindu nationalism by accusing the congress party of pandering to minority Muslims for votes.

Hindus account for 80%, and Muslims nearly 14%, of India’s over 1.4 billion people.

Nearly 970 million voters — more than 10% of the world’s population — were eligible to elect 543 members to the lower house of Parliament for five years.

Voters’ relative apathy has surprised some political analysts. In the five rounds of polling the voter turnout ranged between 62.2% to 69.16% — averaging 65.9%.

By comparison, India’s 2019 national election registered the highest-ever voter turnout — 67.11%. Mr Modi’s BJP won 303 seats in parliament in 2019.

Mr Modi’s inauguration of a massive Hindu temple for the most revered Lord Rama, his massive roadshows and big public rallies raised the BJP’s hopes of a massive a surge of voters in its favor.

Mr Modi came to power in 2014, dislodging the congress party that governed the country for nearly 55 years after India won independence from British colonialists in 1947.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Video footage shows the convoy had emergency lights flashing when it was hit

Israel admits ‘mistakenly’ killing 15 aid workers after video leak contradicted official version of events

Jaguar Land Rover has paused shipments to the US in the wake of 'Liberation Day' tariffs

Jaguar Land Rover halts shipments to US in wake of tariffs as Trump insists he'll win 'economic revolution'

Flowers and toys left on a swing seat to commemorate victims killed in Russia's missile attack on Friday

Death toll from Russian strike on Zelenskyy's home town rises as 18 confirmed dead - including nine children

Donald Trump's 10% tariff on UK products has officially come into force

Trump tariffs come into force as global stock markets plunge deeper into the red

Tom Howard

British tourist killed after being struck by boulder on trek through Himalayas

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a car burns following a Russian missile attack that killed more than a dozen people, including children, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Russia kills 16 people including three children in missile strike on Zelenskyy's home town, with dozens wounded

Travel influencer Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, made an illegal visit to North Sentinel Island

Tourist who left Coke for world's most isolated tribe 'could have wiped them all out' - and police 'can't go collect can'

White House weighs in to support ‘censored’ anti-abortion activists in Britain

White House looking to support ‘censored’ anti-abortion activists in Britain

This image provided by NASA shows Nick Hague, right, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore. (NASA via AP)

Stranded NASA astronauts reveal they were almost trapped in space 'forever' after horror malfunction

Donald Trump demands France 'free Marine Le Pen'

Donald Trump demands France 'free Marine Le Pen' after far-right leader found guilty of embezzlement in 'witch hunt'

China will impose a 34% retaliatory tariff on imports from the US

China announces additional 34% tariffs on US imports in retaliation over Trump's 'Liberation Day' levies

Friends of Prince Andrew say he's "unsurprised" Giuffre made the post

Prince Andrew 'not surprised' his accuser shared shock post saying she had 'four days to live'

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol

South Korea president Yoon Suk Yeol removed from office as impeachment upheld over martial law declaration

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’