POLITICS

India votes in second phase of national elections with Modi’s BJP as front-runner

Apr 25, 2024, 8:46 PM | Updated: Apr 26, 2024, 9:46 am

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians voted Friday in a moderate turnout in the second round of multi-phase national elections as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to galvanize voters with his assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics.

People lined up outside polling stations as voting opened at 7 a.m. local time and braved hot summer weather with temperatures soaring up to 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit) in the afternoon.

The election authority said in a statement that approximately 60.96% of 160 million eligible voters exercised their right to cast a ballot in the second round.

The outcome of Friday’s voting will be crucial for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as the 88 constituencies up for grabs across 13 states include some of its strongholds in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Most polls predict a win for Modi and the BJP, which is up against a broad opposition alliance led by the Indian National Congress and powerful regional parties.

Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi is running in Wayanad constituency in southern Kerala state for a second time, after he was defeated in 2019 elections by Smriti Irani, a BJP leader, in the northern Indian city of Amethi — a traditional stronghold for the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Other prominent candidates in the second phase of voting include Shashi Tharoor of the Congress party, popular BJP Bollywood star Hema Malini and actor Arun Govil, who played the role of Hinduism’s revered Lord Ram in a 1987 television adaptation of the ancient epic Ramayana.

Prime Minister Modi urged people to vote in record numbers to strengthen democracy.

“I especially urge our young voters and women voters to turn out in great numbers. Your vote is your voice!” Modi said in a message on the social media platform X before voting began Friday.

The BJP has already won one parliamentary seat from Surat in Gujarat state, where the Congress party candidate was disqualified Monday. Election officials said they found discrepancies in the signatures on the nomination and other candidates pulled out of the contest, leaving BJP nominee Mukesh Dalal as the winner by default.

Nearly 970 million voters — more than 10% of the world’s population — will elect 543 members to the lower house of Parliament for five years during the staggered election, which runs until June 1. The votes will be counted on June 4. There are a total of 28 states in India.

The turnout in the first phase of polling on April 19 was estimated at around 62% of 166.3 million eligible voters.

By comparison, India’s 2019 national election registered the highest-ever voter turnout — 67.11% — in the history of Indian parliamentary elections. The turnout is expected to increase for five more rounds of voting.

Voters’ relative apathy has surprised some political analysts, but they say that the BJP remains a front-runner.

“You could argue that the listlessness is a consequence of a foregone conclusion,” said Pratap Bhanu Mehta, an Indian political scientist.

“But for Modi’s party which is expecting to win 400 of the 543 seats the joyous surge is missing,” he said in an article in the Indian Express daily.

However, Prime Minister Modi said “Phase Two (voting) has been too good!”

Critics of the prime minister, an avowed Hindu nationalist, say India’s tradition of diversity and secularism has come under attack since the BPJ won power a decade ago. They accuse the party of fostering religious intolerance and sometimes even violence. The party denies the accusation and says its policies benefit all Indians.

Modi stirred a huge controversy over the weekend when he said that the Congress party, if voted to power, would distribute the country’s wealth among “infiltrators” and “those who have more children,” in an apparent reference to the Muslim community.

Hindus make up 80% of India’s 1.4 billion people, while Muslims account for 14% and Christians and Sikhs 2% each.

The Congress party leaders met with election officials and urged them to investigate whether Modi’s comments violated the body’s code of conduct that bars politicians from appealing to voters based on caste and religious feelings.

The BJP also filed a complaint against Congress’s Gandhi, accusing the opposition leader of falsely asserting that poverty was increasing and driving a wedge between the North and South of India based on language and region to disrupt the electoral environment.

The election authority recognized the complaints on Thursday and asked the presidents of the two parties to file their responses by Monday. The authority is expected to give its ruling next week.

Politics

Associated Press

Michigan man sentenced to 30 years in prison for role in online child exploitation ring

DETROIT (AP) — A Michigan man who admitted to exploiting a girl was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in federal prison in an investigation of a sinister online community that pressures children into committing acts of self-harm and creating sexual abuse images. Richard Densmore ran chat rooms as a member of 764, an international group […]

30 minutes ago

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., waves during a campaign rally with Republican presidential nominee former ...

Associated Press

GOP flips 2 US House seats in Pennsylvania, as Republican Scott Perry wins again

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republicans knocked off Democrats in two perennially contested U.S. House seats in eastern Pennsylvania while U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, one of the hardest right members of the chamber, survived a challenge in a southern Pennsylvania district with more moderate politics. The defeats of sixth-term Rep. Matt Cartwright and three-term Rep. Susan […]

33 minutes ago

Associated Press

AP Race Call: Democrat Steven Horsford wins reelection to U.S. House in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District

Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Nevada on Thursday. Horsford, a four-term congressman, became the first Black person to represent Nevada in Congress when he was first elected to the House. This year, he defeated former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee. The district stretches north from Las Vegas, […]

37 minutes ago

FILE - Part of a square-mile section of state land in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park is seen, ...

Associated Press

Wyoming moves ahead with selling land in Grand Teton National Park to federal government for $100M

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming officials voted Thursday to proceed with selling a spectacular, pristine piece of state property within Grand Teton National Park to the federal government for $100 million and end decades of threats to sell it to the highest-bidding private developer. The 3-2 vote by the state Board of Land Commissioners — […]

43 minutes ago

Associated Press

Democrat Kim Schrier wins reelection to US House in Washington

SEATTLE (AP) — Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier won a fourth term Thursday in Washington, beating Republican Carmen Goers in a district made up of a mix of wealthy Seattle exurbs and central Washington farmland. The 8th District seat had always been held by the GOP before Schrier, a pediatrician, took office in 2019. She survived […]

54 minutes ago

Associated Press

AP Race Call: Democrat Kim Schrier wins reelection to U.S. House in Washington’s 8th Congressional District

Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Washington on Thursday. She defeated Republican Carmen Goers, who works in financial services. Schrier, a pediatrician, first won her seat in 2018, becoming the first Democrat to represent the district. Of the seven Washington state congressional districts that Democrat Joe Biden carried in […]

1 hour ago

India votes in second phase of national elections with Modi’s BJP as front-runner