By Deutsche Welle
India began six-week elections this Friday with all favoritism for nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the face of a weakened opposition relegated to the background.
Almost 970 million people can vote in the largest elections in the world, an astonishing logistical exercise in the nation that recently overtook China as the most populous on the planet.
Voting to renew the 543 members of the Lower House takes place in seven stages until June 1. The count will take place on the 4th of that month and the results must be known that same day.
In one of the constituencies voting this Friday, AFP journalists observed that the authorities admitted the first voters in the Hindu holy city of Haridwar, in the north, on the banks of the Ganges.
Coinciding with the opening of schools, Modi asked voters to “exercise their right to vote in record numbers.” “Every vote counts and every voice matters,” he said on the social network X.