India begins second phase of national elections with PM Modi's BJP as front-runner

(26 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh - 26 April 2024
1. Wide of voter voting and polling officers monitoring
2. Mid of a voter casting his vote
3. Voter leaves after casting his vote
4. Wide of voters going to the polling station
5. Various of voters standing in queues to cast their vote at a polling station
6. Various of people standing in long queues, waiting for their turn to cast vote
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 26 April 2024
7. Election official applying ink mark on a voter’s finger, voter walking towards voting compartment to cast her vote
8. Close of finger being inked
9. Election official checking a voter’s name
STORYLINE:
Millions of Indians began voting on Friday in the second round of multi-phase national elections as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to galvanize voters with his assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics.
People lined up outside polling stations as voting opened at 7 a.m.
Turnout was expected to pick up as the day progresses.
The outcome of Friday’s voting will be crucial for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as the 88 constituencies up for grabs across 13 states include some of its strongholds in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Most polls predict a win for Modi and the BJP, which is up against a broad opposition alliance led by the Indian National Congress and powerful regional parties.
Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi is running in Wayanad constituency in southern Kerala state for a second time, after he was defeated in 2019 elections by Smriti Irani, a BJP leader, in the northern Indian city of Amethi - a traditional stronghold for the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Other prominent candidates in the second phase of voting include Shashi Tharoor of the Congress party, popular BJP Bollywood star Hema Malini and actor Arun Govil, who played the role of Hinduism's revered Lord Ram in a 1987 television adaptation of the ancient epic Ramayana.
Prime Minister Modi urged people to vote in record numbers to strengthen democracy.
The BJP has already won one parliamentary seat from Surat in Gujarat state, where the Congress party candidate was disqualified Monday.
Election officials said they found discrepancies in the signatures on the nomination and other candidates pulled out of the contest, leaving BJP nominee Mukesh Dalal as the winner by default.
Nearly 970 million voters - more than 10% of the world’s population - will elect 543 members to the lower house of Parliament for five years during the staggered election, which runs until June 1.
The votes will be counted on June 4. There are a total of 28 states in India.
AP video shot by Piyush Nagpal and Shonal Ganguly
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