- Almost a billion people have the right to vote.
- Modi in campaign mode for months before the dates were announced.
- Modi will be challenged by an alliance of about two dozen opponents.
India will begin voting in phases from April 19 to elect a new parliament, the country's electoral authority said on Saturday, in the world's largest election in which nearly a billion people are eligible to vote.
The election pits two-term Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his regional allies against a squabbling alliance of two dozen opposition parties, with polls suggesting a comfortable victory for India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Modi.
A victory would make Modi, 73, only the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's independence hero and its first prime minister, to win a third consecutive term.
Modi and his party have been in campaign mode for months before the voting dates were announced. The prime minister has been flying around the country almost every day, inaugurating new projects, making announcements, participating in religious events and addressing public and private meetings.
In his speeches, Modi has been showcasing economic growth during his two terms, resulting in India now becoming the world's fastest growing major economy, with investments in infrastructure and welfare programs for the poor.
A major topic of conversation has also been his party's agenda for Hindu revival, including the inauguration of a grand temple to Lord Ram on the site of a destroyed mosque.
Modi has set a target of 370 seats for the BJP and more than 400 for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) he leads in the 543-member lower house of parliament, compared to the 303 the BJP won and the more than 350 it won. won the NDA in 2019.
The 2019 performance was the best in the history of the party that was formed in 1980.
Modi will be challenged by an alliance of about two dozen opposition parties led by the main opposition Congress party called INDIA, or National Inclusive Alliance for India's Development.
However, the alliance formed last year has been struggling to stay united and share seats amicably so that it can fight the BJP one on one.
The Congress, which has ruled India for 54 of its 76 years since independence from Britain, has fallen to record lows after Modi came to power and is struggling to regain support.
The party highlights unemployment, rural distress, what it says is crony capitalism, the need for more affirmative action for the so-called backward castes and the need to end religious polarization and hatred in its speech to defeat Modi.
Almost 970 million people are registered to vote at more than one million polling stations in the gigantic electoral exercise in which 2,400 political parties are likely to participate.
