Marathon vote enters last phase

INDIA’S marathon general election, the world’s largest democratic exercise, is nearing the finish line.

The first of the election’s seven staggered phases was held on April 11.

Yesterday, the final phase took place, with voting to be held for the remaining 60 seats in the 543-member Lower House of Parliament.

Vote counting is scheduled to start on Thursday. India has 900 million eligible voters.

The election has taken place in a charged atmosphere as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party seeks a second term by pushing policies that some say have increased religious tensions and undermined multiculturalism.

The campaigning has been marred by accusations and insults, as well as the unprecedented use of social media.

The election is seen as a referendum on Mr Modi and the BJP.

Mr Modi promised bigticket economic reforms, but with unemployment rising and farmers’ distress aggravated by low crop prices, his party has adopted a nationalist pitch in trying to win votes from the country’s majority Hindus.

Picture: AP Polling officers stand to receive Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) before proceeding to their respective booths at a distribution centre in Kolkata, India.