Varanasi, India, June 1 (EFE).- India’s marathon general elections, the world’s largest, ended on Saturday, after months of acrimonious and divisive poll campaigns.
Millions of voters braved searing heat to cast their ballots in the last phase of the staggered 44-day polling with Prime Minister Narendra Modi eying a third term.
On Saturday, a particular focus was on the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, part of the constituency that Modi is seeking to retain for the third time in row.
The ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Modi, is seeking a third consecutive term to govern the world’s most populous country, one of the fastest-growing economies, but also grappling with rising unemployment and soaring inflation.
Modi and other BJP leader began their re-election bid wooing voters by focussing on the achievements of the government over the last 10 years.
However, soon after the first phase of voting on Apr. 19, his campaign switched to targeting the country’s Muslim minority.
He repeatedly used overtly Islamophobic language in public rallies, accusing the opposition Indian National Congress of scheming to redistribute the nation’s wealth among “infiltrators” and “those who have more children” – political slurs to describe 200 million Muslims of India.
The Congress party, which campaigned mainly on saving the constitution from Modi’s allegedly dictatorial tendencies, has denied the allegations.
The opposition, in turn, accused the prime minister of engaging in communally divisive politics to gain support from Hindus, who constitute 80 percent of India’s 1.4 billion population.
The results will be declared on June 4. However, exit polls on Saturday evening, having an unconvincing track record in Indian elections, will offer an idea whether Modi is on track to retain power.
Pre-poll surveys suggest Modi is widely expected to secure a third term despite the challenges of mass unemployment and inflation in the world’s most populous country.
On Saturday as sun began scorching large parts of north India, voters flocked to polling stations in 57 constituencies across eight regions, braving sweltering heatwave conditions to cast their ballots.
Temperatures in several cities crossed 50 degrees Celsius this week.
In Varanasi, polling stations were crowded with groups of voters as soon as the voting got underway.
Hundreds of people had queued up even before the voting began at the Vishvanath Hindu temple in Varanasi, one of the polling stations in the ancient city.
“The Election Commission has done a very good job, now we just have to wait patiently for the results. But for us, the process was quite quick because our lives went on while other states were voting. Today is our big day,” Mahesh Purohit told EFE after casting his vote.
Not all voters in the Hindu holy city are Modi supporters with some accusing his government of making life hell for Muslims in India.
“This government has tortured Muslims. They have been subjected to mob lynching, their properties have been destroyed, and their businesses ruined,” a Varanasi voter told EFE.
He added that people from other communities are also fed up with this government since it has done nothing for the poor and marginalized of the country.
Over 100 million voters out of a total nearly one billion were eligible to cast their ballots for this final phase of voting.
The phase included key states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Bihar, which are among the top five regions in terms of the number of lawmakers they send to the 543-member lower house of the Indian parliament.
At 5 pm, nearly 60 percent of voters had cast their ballots. Bihar in east recorded the lowest voter turnout of nearly 50 percent while Himachal Pradesh in the north recorded the highest at more than 66 percent, according to the poll regulator.
Uttar Pradesh, with its 80 parliamentary constituencies, is crucial to Modi’s quest for a third consecutive term and includes his own electoral battleground in Varanasi, the ancient city known as the cradle of Hinduism.
Modi’s nearest rival in the holy city is Ajay Rai of the Indian National Congress.
He defeated Rai in the last two general elections with a wide margins in Varanasi, giving the BJP an edge to take Modi’s victory for granted.
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