2024 RT Amination Banner.gif

China Daily

Asia Pacific> Asia News> Content
Thursday, April 11, 2019, 21:22
Big turnout for India's election, where Modi has an edge
By Reuters
Thursday, April 11, 2019, 21:22 By Reuters

In this April 11, 2019 photo, people line up to vote at a polling station during India's general election in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Voting will take place in seven phases over six weeks beginning today. (PRAKASH SINGH / AFP)

GHAZIABAD/HYDERABAD/MUZAFFARNAGAR, India - Indians voted enthusiastically on Thursday at the start of a mammoth general election, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a second term after campaigning fervently on a plank of national security, following tension with neighbouring Pakistan.

People trekked, rode bicycles and drove tractors to polling stations in the world's biggest democratic exercise, with nearly 900 million eligible to vote during seven phases of balloting spread over 39 days, and vote-counting set for May 23. 

Boosted by a surge in nationalist fervor after hostilities with Pakistan in February, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held the advantage going into the election, opinion polls showed.

But distress over growing unemployment and weak farm incomes in rural areas, home to two-thirds of Indians, is expected to shrink the tally of Modi's BJP alliance to a far smaller majority than in the 2014 election. 

At least one person was killed on the first day of polling.

Almost 900 million of India's 1.3 billion people are eligible to vote. The first phase covers an electorate of 142 million

Reuters reporters saw long queues outside many polling stations. The Election Commission said voters were turning out in large numbers in an eastern district where Maoist insurgents were blamed for a bomb attack on Tuesday, which killed a state legislator from Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and four security officials.

Two people were also killed on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir, the country's only Muslim majority state, prompting authorities to increase security even further. 

Shops and schools were closed in the disputed region of Kashmir and roads mostly clear of traffic after separatists called a strike against the election.

A local leader of Andhra Pradesh state's ruling Telugu Desam party whom police identified as Sidda Bhaskara Reddy was killed in a confrontation with supporters of a regional opposition party, YSR Congress. Violent clashes were also reported elsewhere in the state, where voters are casting ballots for 25 members of India's lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha, and 175 state assembly seats.

This AFP graphic shows the places where voting takes place on Day 1 of the Indian general election on April 11, 2019.

Shadab Ali, an 18-year-old first-time voter in the volatile Muzaffarnagar constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, queued with a group of friends at a polling station setup in a primary school. Hindu-Muslim riots there killed at least 65 people before the previous election in 2014.

A local leader of Andhra Pradesh state's ruling Telugu Desam party was killed in a confrontation with supporters of a regional opposition party, YSR Congress

"Modi has worked but not done enough for us," said Ali, a Muslim. "We want development. I've voted for development."

ALSO READ: India budget: Modi 'appeasing voters', putting reforms aside

Voters came to three polling stations in Muzaffarnagar on foot, by bicycle and motorcycle, in cars and on tractors.

Voting in the first of seven rounds is being held in 91 parliament constituencies across 20 states and federally administered regions. There are 543 seats at stake.

In the world's largest democratic exercise, almost 900 million of India's 1.3 billion people are eligible to vote. The first phase of voting covers an electorate of 142 million, some of whom will vote in pink booths staffed by female security personnel and polling officials.

The election is spread over 39 days, with the final phase on May 19 and the result announced four days later.

Modi's BJP is the frontrunner despite economic distress over mounting unemployment and weak farm incomes in rural areas, where two-thirds of Indians live.

Modi said on Twitter as voting began that the mood was "firmly" in favour of his National Democratic Alliance (NDA), of which the BJP is the senior party. "NDA's aim is - development, more development and all-round development," he said. 

The election is spread over 39 days, with the final phase on May 19 and the result announced four days later

NATIONALIST UPSURGE

Pollsters say support for the BJP rose in response to Modi's tough stance against Pakistan. Aerial clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours followed a Pakistan-based militant organization's suicide attack in February that killed 40 paramilitary police in disputed Kashmir.

The main opposition Congress party has sought allies among regional parties to defeat the BJP over its record on the economy. Congress wrested three major farming states from the BJP in state polls in December by promising to waive the outstanding loans of distressed farmers.

ALSO READ: Jobs, castes and other issues in India's general elections

"Vote for Congress, vote for you," Congress said on Twitter, promising more jobs and "love over hate". 

However, the upsurge in nationalist fervour has undermined its strategy  and helped 68-year-old Modi. 

"He's improved India's global standing and taken revenge against the enemies of the country," Sachin Tyagi, 38, a mobile phone shop owner, said near a polling station in Uttar Pradesh, which sends the most lawmakers to the lower house of parliament among all states. 

"I am happy with Modi-ji but the employment situation could be improved," he said. 

People register to vote at a polling station during India's general election in Hyderabad, April 11, 2019. (NOAH SEELAM / AFP)

Voters streamed into the same polling station as Tyagi earlyon Thursday, with young men in jeans and shorts, older men inwhite kurtas and women in colourful sarees standing in line.

DIVIDED OPPOSITION

Gilles Verniers, a political science professor at Ashoka University near New Delhi, predicted Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, would struggle to catch the BJP.

"The gap between Congress and the BJP is still enormous, so no one is seriously thinking that Congress is going to fill that gap," he said. "The opposition landscape remains heavily fragmented."

READ MORE: India's opposition pledges minimum income plan to woo voters

An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard as a young boy dressed as a policeman stands next to his mother in a queue to cast their votes in village Sawaal near Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India, April 11, 2019. (ALTAF QADRI / AP)

An average of four opinion polls showed the BJP alliance on course to win 273 of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, a much-reduced majority from the more than 330-seat margin it won in 2014. The Lok Sabha also includes two seats reserved for the Anglo-Indian community.

The BJP alone won a landslide 282 seats five years ago, securing a clear single-party majority for the first time in decades and raising hopes of economic reform after a period of sluggish growth.

Congress is trying to rebuild its appeal after winning only 44 seats in 2014 and has promised monthly handouts of 6,000 rupees (US$86.59) for the poorest families.

It hopes to win enough seats to lure regional parties opposed to Modi after the election and form the government.


With inputs from Xinhua and Associated Press

Share this story

CHINA DAILY
HONG KONG NEWS
OPEN
Please click in the upper right corner to open it in your browser !