The last round of voting in India’s election is a referendum on Prime Minister Modi’s ten years in office.

After Jawaharlal Nehru, the nation’s first prime minister, Modi would be the only other Indian politician to hold the position for three terms.

TFD – As India’s six-week national election concludes, all eyes are on the results due Tuesday. Narendra Modi aims for a historic third term, facing significant opposition and voter concerns over economic issues and unemployment. Will Modi’s BJP prevail, or will the Congress party capitalize on the discontent?

NEW DELHI: The last round of India’s six-week national election saw hundreds of millions of voters cast ballots in a battle widely viewed as a referendum on the party’s ten years in power, that of Hindu Nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Candidates traveled the nation, poll officials trekked to far-flung towns, and voters waited in long lines in the intense heat for hours throughout the exhausting, multi-phase election. The only thing left to do is await the results, which should be revealed on Tuesday.

In India’s history, the election is regarded as one of the most significant. After Jawaharlal Nehru, the nation’s first prime minister, Modi would be the only other Indian politician to hold the position for three terms.

The majority of polls indicate that Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party are ahead of the large opposition coalition led by the Congress party. Results of the vote count are anticipated before the end of the day on Tuesday.

Modi launched his campaign on promises of economic development, promising to raise the impoverished and make India a developed country by 2047. However, in recent weeks, it became more and more harsh as Modi intensified divisive language in fiery speeches directed at the Muslim minority in the nation, which accounts for 14% of India’s 1.4 billion inhabitants.

On Thursday, when the campaign trail came to an end, Modi appeared on national television to meditate at a memorial site dedicated to a well-known Hindu saint. Since the campaigning period is expired, the opposition Congress party claimed it to be a political gimmick and a violation of election laws.

It was generally anticipated that Modi and his BJP would win another term when the election campaign began in April.

Ever since becoming office in 2014, Modi has experienced tremendous popularity. His admirers regard him as a strong, self-made leader who has raised India’s profile internationally and attribute the country’s fifth-largest economy to his pro-business policies.

Under his leadership, there have also been blatant assaults and hate speech directed towards minorities, especially Muslims. His detractors claim that Modi has progressively dissolved the distinction between religion and the state and that India’s democracy is in jeopardy.

However, as the campaign progressed, Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party and the opposition alliance put up a strong fight against his party. They have criticized Modi for his Hindu nationalist policies and want to take advantage of the rising unrest in the economy.

Pre-election polls revealed voters‘ growing concerns about rising food costs, unemployment, and the general perception that, despite rapid economic progress under Modi, only a small section of Indians have benefited. These factors made the campaign seem closer than first thought.

After seven states, one union territory, and fifty-seven constituencies participated in the seventh round of polling, a nationwide election was held to fill all 543 seats in the influential lower house of parliament. Over 970 million people, or over 10% of the global populace, cast ballots. Over 8,300 people applied to be members of parliament for five years.

Voters gathered outside voting places early on Saturday morning in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, to avoid the intense heat, with temperatures predicted to soar to 93.2 Fahrenheit. Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of the state and leader of the local Trinamool Congress party, put up a challenge to Modi there.

The current job market is experiencing a shortage of workers. Voting for an administration that can create jobs is what I will do. Ankit Samaddar added, “And I hope those who are unable to find employment would do so eventually.

In the current election, Modi’s BJP, which now holds a large portion of the Hindi-speaking regions of northern and central India, aimed to increase its power by gaining ground in the eastern and southern states of the nation, where regional parties are more powerful.

After Modi inaugurated a long-desired Hindu temple on the site of a demolished mosque in January, the BJP also counted on uniting votes among the majority of Hindus, who account for 80% of the population. Though some believed the euphoria surrounding the temple might not be sufficient to garner votes, many saw it as the unofficial beginning of his campaign.

In an apparent attempt to excite his core Hindu voter base, Modi escalated his anti-Muslim rhetoric when voter turnout in the first few rounds of the 2024 elections fell somewhat short of 2019 statistics. However, experts point out that it also represented the fact that Modi did not focus on a single major campaign theme, which has been his signature platform in the past.

Voters fed up with decades of family politics were swayed in 2014 by Modi’s outsider status and his promises to take on systemic corruption. In 2019, he triumphed in the elections amid a surge of nationalism following his government’s airstrikes against Pakistan in retaliation for a suicide bombing in Kashmir that claimed the lives of forty Indian soldiers.

However, observers note that this time around things are different, perhaps providing Modi’s political rivals with an opening.

Through the use of local issues like unemployment and the economy, the opposition was able to somehow undermine his agenda. Voters in this election are considering a number of concerns, according to political analyst Rasheed Kidwai.