Art students paint parliamentary election posters Image: AFP

The Indian government has announced the dates for the general elections, which will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1. Prime Minister Modi is considered the favorite for another term as head of government.

The Indian government announced the dates for the general election on Saturday: It will take place in seven phases between April 19 and June 1. Nearly one billion eligible voters were asked to cast their ballots in a six-week election marathon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is considered the favorite for another term as head of government.

Although elections will take place on different days in different regions of the world's most populous country, the vote count is scheduled to take place simultaneously on June 4. Election results are also expected to be announced on the same day.

Modi, a 73-year-old Hindu nationalist from the BJP party, is hoping for another landslide victory like in elections in 2014 and 2019. Opinion polls are rare in India, but in last year's survey nearly 80 percent of participants expressed a positive opinion of the election. mode.

In their politics, nationalists rely, among other things, on the aggressive promotion of Hinduism, which constitutes the majority of India's population. Presenting himself as a defender of religion, Modi inaugurated a controversial Hindu temple in January built on the ruins of a centuries-old mosque destroyed by Hindu extremists.

Critics accuse the BJP of wanting to turn constitutionally secular India into a Hindu nationalist state and marginalizing its huge Muslim minority.

The opposition, led by the Congress Party, is divided and has not been able to agree on a common leader. Criminal investigations are also underway against several opposition leaders, which critics say are politically motivated.

Some 970 million people are eligible to vote in the world's largest parliamentary election – more than the entire population of the US, the European Union and Russia combined. More than one million polling stations will be set up and 15 million people will be deployed as poll workers.

HOME PAGE