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Nearly 1 billion people will participate in the Indian elections. Photo/Reuters
NEW DELHI – India began voting in stages starting April 19 to elect a new parliament. It was the biggest election ever because one billion people were eligible to vote.
The election pits two-term strongmen, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his regional allies against an alliance of two dozen opposition parties, and surveys show a landslide victory for Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).
A victory would make Modi, 73, the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's independence hero and first prime minister, to win a third consecutive term.
Modi and his party had been campaigning for months before the poll date was announced. The prime minister has been flying around the country almost every day, inaugurating new projects, making announcements, taking part in religious events and addressing public and private gatherings.
In his speech, Modi has shown economic growth during his two terms in office which has made India the country with the fastest economic growth in the world today, investment in infrastructure and welfare programs for the poor.
A key talking point was also his party's agenda for a Hindu revival, including the inauguration of a magnificent temple to Lord Ram on the site of a destroyed mosque.
Modi has set a target of 370 seats for the BJP and 400 more for his National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 543-member lower house of parliament, up from the 303 seats the BJP won and more than 350 seats the NDA won in last year's elections.
This 2019 performance was the best for the party which was formed in 1980.
Modi will be challenged by an alliance of twenty opposition parties led by the main opposition Congress party called INDIA or the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance.