NEW DELHI (AP) — Indians began voting Saturday in the final round of a six-week national elections that is a referendum on Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi decade in power.
The elections are considered one of the most consequential in India’s history. If Modi 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.
The seventh round of voting in 57 constituencies in seven states and one union territory will complete elections to all 543 seats in the powerful lower house of Parliament. Nearly 970 million voters – more than 10% of the world’s population – were eligible to elect a new parliament for five years. More than 8,300 candidates filed for office.
Most polls show Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party leading the broad opposition alliance challenging them, led by the Congress Party. Votes will be counted on Tuesday and results are expected by the end of the day.
Modi’s campaign, vying for a third straight term, started on a platform of economic progress. He promised to uplift the poor and turn India into a country developed nation in 2047. But it has become increasingly shrill in recent weeks he escalated the polarizing rhetoric in successive inflammatory speeches that targeted the country’s Muslim minority, which makes up 14% of India’s 1.4 billion people.