India’s frontrunner Modi ‘urges’ record turnout on final poll day
Only wants to divide people: Rahul
NEW DELHI, May 11, (AFP): Frontrunner for prime minister Narendra Modi is calling for a record turnout to throw the scandal-plagued Congress party out of office when voting ends on Monday in India’s bitter marathon election.
Modi’s final appeal to voters came hours before a landmine blast killed seven police officers on Sunday in the country’s insurgency-racked centre, amid steppedup security nationwide before votes are counted and results announced on Friday.
The world’s biggest election, held in phases over five weeks, is expected to propel Modi, a Hindu nationalist hardliner from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to power.
“People are tired of false promises, corruption and the same old tape-recorded messages ridden with dynastic references only to hide one’s own failure,” Modi said in a blog late Saturday.
“They want a better tomorrow and NDA is the only alliance that can provide this change,” Modi said, referring to a BJP-led National Democratic Alliance coalition.
“I urge all those voting in the final phase to vote in record numbers, especially the youth,” he said.
Campaigning ended on Saturday in the election that is likely to see Congress — whose campaign is headed by Rahul Gandhi, scion of India’s most famous political dynasty — ousted from power after 10 years.
Politicians were barred from making speeches or taking to the hustings on Sunday, one day before 66 million people are eligible to cast their ballots in 41 seats in the final stage of the staggered voting.
Opinion polls show voters have turned against Congress over massive graft scandals, spiralling inflation and a sharp economic slowdown during its two terms heading a left-leaning coalition government since 2004.
The BJP is expected to win the most seats in the 543-member parliament when results are announced on May 16. But it will likely fall short of an outright majority, meaning it will need to forge a coalition with regional parties.
Modi, 63, the son of a tea-stall owner who has pledged development, investment and jobs to revive the struggling economy, sought to strike a note of unity in his last message to voters.
“We can decide whether we want to fight each other or we want to unite to fight poverty? The former will lead us nowhere while the latter will take our nation to greater heights,” he said in his blog.
The campaign has sparked claims by Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders that Modi will widen divisions between the majority Hindu and minority Muslim communities if elected.
Although popular, Modi is a deeply polarising figure due to his Hindu nationalist past and allegations that he failed to swiftly curb deadly 2002 anti-Muslim riots.
The riots that swept Gujarat during his early years as chief minister of the prosperous western state left at least 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, dead.
Gandhi, 43, ratcheted up the rhetoric on Saturday, saying Modi “only wants to divide people, make people fight each other”. He was speaking during final campaigning in the holy Hindu city of Varanasi which votes on Monday.
Gandhi, whose family has produced three prime ministers, sought to muster a final show of strength in Varanasi, which has become a focus of national attention between two star candidates.