India begins voting in a six-week election on Friday, with Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi all but assured of victory and a weakened opposition pushed aside.

A total of 968 million people are eligible to take part in the world’s largest vote – a logistical feat that critics say follows a concerted effort to delegitimize rivals.

A patient queue formed outside a polling station in Haridwar, a holy Hindu city on the banks of the Ganges, even before the polls opened.

“I’m here because I’m happy with the direction the country is going,” said Ganga Singh, 27, an autorickshaw driver.

“I vote not with personal welfare in mind, but with national prosperity.”

Modi, 73, remains popular after a decade in power as India’s diplomatic clout and economic power continues to rise and his government strives to more closely align the faith of the country’s majority with its politics.

“I urge all voters… to exercise their right to vote in record numbers,” he wrote in a social media post on X as the election began.

“Every vote counts, every voice counts!”

Modi has led the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to two landslide victories in 2014 and 2019, thanks in large part to his appeal to Hindu believers.

This year he inaugurated a majestic temple dedicated to the god Ram, built on the foundations of a centuries-old mosque that was razed to the ground by Hindu fanatics.

“This country is creating the genesis of a new history,” Modi told thousands of people gathered at the ceremony, which included Bollywood celebrities and cricket stars.

The temple’s construction met a long-standing demand from Hindu activists and was widely celebrated across India through continuous television coverage and street parties.

“Repression Mode”

Analysts have long expected Modi to prevail over a fractious alliance of more than two dozen parties that have yet to name a candidate for prime minister.

His prospects have been further bolstered by several criminal investigations into his opponents and a tax investigation this year that froze the bank accounts of India’s largest opposition Congress party.

Opposition figures and human rights groups accuse Modi’s government of orchestrating the investigations to undermine rivals.

“We have no money to campaign, we cannot support our candidates,” Rahul Gandhi, the best-known leader of the Congress party, told reporters in March.

“Our ability to fight for elections has been compromised.”

The Congress party dominated Indian politics for nearly seven decades after independence and remains the only opposition party with nationwide sway.

In Haridwar, Gabbar Thakur, who makes a living photographing tourists along the Ganges, went to vote early.

“I’m here because I’m unhappy with the government,” he said. “So-called development hasn’t reached where I live.”

During Modi’s tenure, India surpassed former colonial ruler Britain to become the world’s fifth-largest economy, while Western countries lined up for potential allies to counter the growing assertiveness of regional rival China.

In doing so, they sidestep concerns about the taming of India’s once-vibrant press and the restrictions on civil society that have led human rights groups like Amnesty International to severely curtail their operations there.

The tax office raided the BBC’s headquarters last year, weeks after the BBC aired a documentary questioning Modi’s role in the 2002 religious riots that killed about 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. local office.

Although India is constitutionally secular, the country’s 220 million Muslim community and other minority groups feel threatened by rising Hindu nationalist fervor.

Human rights group CIVICUS said in a report on Wednesday that Modi had seen a “pattern of repression that undermined democratic and civic space” during his tenure.

opposition alliance

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party faces a challenge from an electoral bloc alliance of more than two dozen parties.

It accuses Modi’s government of using law enforcement agencies to selectively target its leaders and undermine their campaigns.

They include Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested last month and remains in custody on charges his party received kickbacks in exchange for liquor licences.

Gandhi is a scion of India’s most famous political dynasty, with his father, grandmother and great-grandfather all serving as prime ministers. He was briefly disqualified from parliament last year after being found guilty of defamation.

The 53-year-old leader criticized the government’s democratic backsliding and bracing Hindu nationalism.

His Congress party urged voters to end “hatred and injustice” at the start of polls on Friday.

“Your vote can end inflation, unemployment, hatred and injustice,” it said on social media platform X.

But Gandhi has led Congress to defeat Modi twice, and his efforts to weaken the prime minister’s support have failed to win over voters.

India rarely publishes opinion polls, but a Pew Research Center survey last year found that nearly 80% of the public had a favorable view of Modi.

Voting will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1, with more than 1 million polling stations across India.

Ballots will be counted all at once on June 4 and are usually announced the same day.