India n prime minister Narendra Modi, leader of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party , holds the party symbol during an election campaign in Chennai. Photograph: Ragulkrishnan/EPA’s general elections, spread over nearly as many weeks and featuring more than 968 million voters, kicks off on Friday in the world’s largest democratic exercise.
The pre-poll forecasts differ only over the number of seats the BJP is projected to win. Modi has predicted the BJP will capture 370 parliamentary seats, 67 more than its present tally of 303 and 98 more than the 272 MPs needed by any single party or coalition to form the federal government. Analysts say the BJP’s optimism stems largely from having executed its long-standing promise to build a temple to the Hindu god Ram at Ayodhya in north India, in place of a 16th century mosque that was demolished by Hindu zealots in 1992.
India’s annual economic growth rate of about 7.2 per cent, a buoyant stock market and generous government welfare schemes that include the distribution of free grain to more than 800 million households and a monthly stipend of 1,250 rupees to women from low-income families, has also attracted BJP voters.
Political observers say the BJP’s decisive edge in the polls is boosted by a fractured opposition that is rife with incessant infighting, large-scale defections by several of its leaders to the Hindu nationalists and the lack of a cohesive electoral strategy.
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