Indians start voting in the world’s biggest ever election today. A Hindu nationalist opposition party, that has promised economic rejuvenation and jobs is tipped to emerge as the clear leader but will probably fall short of an absolute majority.
The elections to choose members of the 543-seat Lok Sabha, or House of the People, will be spread over five weeks, kicking off in two small northeastern states, then spreading to the northern Himalayan plateaus, western deserts and tropical south before ending in the densely populated northern plains. Results are due on May 16th.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, and its allies are forecast to win the biggest chunk of seats but are set to fall shy of a majority, according to a poll released this week by respected Indian pollsters CSDS. In such a situation, a coalition government, led by the BJP, is seen as the most likely outcome.
India’s 815 million voters are set to inflict a resounding defeat on the ruling Congress party, led by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, surveys show. This comes after the longest economic slowdown since the 1980s put the brakes on development and job creation in a country where half of the population is under 25 years old.
Anti-Muslim riots
But Modi is tainted by accusations that he failed to stop, or even encouraged, anti-Muslim riots in 2002 in the state of Gujarat, where he is chief minister. At least 1,000 people died in the violence, most of them Muslims.
Modi has denied the charges and a Supreme Court inquiry found no evidence to prosecute him.
India's remote northeast, a lush but underdeveloped border region of eight states that are home to just 27.4 million voters, is a test case for the appeal of Modi's promises to fill India with new highways and fast trains and to take a tough line on frontier disputes with neighbours. China claims sections of the region.
– Reuters