India begins voting on Friday in a general election that Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears almost certain to win against a struggling opposition.

Long queues formed in front of polling stations soon after they opened in Haridwar, an important Hindu pilgrimage site on the banks of the Ganges River and one of the first cities to vote in this election.

Modi immediately urged voters in the first phase of voting, which includes seven people, to “exercise their right to vote in large numbers”, especially young people and those voting for the first time.

“Every vote counts and every vote matters,” he added on the X social network.

The Congress, the main opposition party in India, reminded voters, on the same platform, that “their vote can end inflation, unemployment, hatred and injustice”, and underlined: “Make sure to vote”, “Don't forget to vote”.

In total, 968 million Indians were called to elect 543 members of the lower house, more than the total populations of the United States, the European Union and Russia combined.

The election runs until June 1, with more than one million polling stations across the country.

Ballots across the country will be counted on June 4. Results are usually announced on the same day.

Modi, who is 73, remains hugely popular after two terms in office, during which India increased its diplomatic clout and economic clout.

A 2023 Pew survey shows that Modi is viewed favorably by nearly 80% of Indians.

He has delivered two landslide wins to the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014 and 2019 by leveraging the religious power of Hindu voters.

This year, he inaugurated a huge temple in the city of Ayodhya dedicated to the Hindu god Ram, built on the site of a centuries-old mosque destroyed by Hindu fanatics.

The event eagerly awaited by activists benefited from extensive media coverage and public celebrations across India.

Political analysts have given him a win against a coalition of opposition parties that is yet to name its candidate for the post of Prime Minister.

“Repression model”

His prospects have been boosted by several criminal investigations into his opponents.

Congress' bank accounts have been frozen since February by India's tax authorities, following a dispute over tax refunds dating back five years.

“We don't have money to campaign, we can't support our candidates,” party leader Rahul Gandhi warned in March. “Our ability to contest elections has been damaged.”

Gandhi, 53, whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather served as prime minister, was removed from Parliament last year after being found guilty of defamation.

Described by Modi as a man disconnected from Indian reality, Gandhi attempted to get closer to the people by organizing two demonstrations across the country.

But after two consecutive defeats against Modi, there are no signs that his efforts to undermine the prime minister's popularity will succeed.

He accused the government of backsliding on democracy and criticized the government's appeal to India's religious majority, to the detriment of minority groups, including India's 210 million Muslims, who fear for their future.

Modi's mandate was marked by a “pattern of repression aimed at undermining democracy and civic space”, condemned human rights association CIVICUS in a report on Wednesday.

Opposition neutralized

The Congress, which ruled the country almost continuously for decades after India's independence, was a shadow of its former government and governed only three of the country's 28 states.

Its leaders formed a coalition with more than twenty regional parties to take on the BJP and its rich and well-funded electoral system.

But the bloc was beset by disputes over a seat-sharing deal and suffered the defection of one of its leaders to the government.

The coalition accused the Modi government of using the judicial system to neutralize certain opposition leaders such as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Arrested in March, the latter is currently in custody, his party is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for alcoholic beverage permits granted to private companies.

Under Modi's mandate, India became the fifth largest economy in the world after Britain, a former colonial country.

And Western countries are quickly looking to this potential ally to counter the increasing assertiveness of China, its arch rival in the region, despite warnings from human rights advocates about declining press freedom.

Since Modi came to power in 2014, India has fallen 21 places in the world press freedom rankings compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and is ranked 161st out of 180 countries.

sai-abh-gle-lth/lpa

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