India election 2019: nearly a billion people begin marathon vote to decide Modi's fate
Source: The Guardian
The world’s largest-ever election has started in India, with voters in more than 20 states casting their ballots in the first phase of the country’s marathon six-week polls.
The contest in the vast country of 1.3 billion people is dominated by local issues but also viewed as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a staunch Hindu nationalist who rode a wave of popularity five years ago to become the first leader of a majority government in decades.
Polls are now open in more than 90 seats, about a sixth of the total in the Indian parliament’s lower house, with six more voting days to be held before the results are announced on 23 May.
The districts voting on Thursday include parts of north India’s “cow belt”, the agrarian states that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) swept in 2014 but where it is expected to shed seats this time around.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/11/india-election-2019-nearly-a-billion-people-begin-marathon-vote-to-decide-modis-fate
