India Halfway to Big Election: Turnout Declines
Meanwhile, the controversy between Modi and Gandhi involves two of the country's most important industrialists
The third round of India’s sweeping elections ended on May 7, with nearly a billion people expected to vote. Turnout is down slightly from the 2019 round, with 61.5% of eligible voters registered to vote in the third round, down from 66% five years ago. Voting took place in Gujarat, Narendra Modi’s home state, and 10 other regions.
The complex and gigantic election process involves 7 phases, with the next one scheduled for May 13 and will not conclude until June. However, more than half of the 543 members who will form the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s bicameral parliament, have already been decided.
The final results will be announced only on June 4, when the entire process is over, but polls show Narendra Modi, running for a third term, in the lead. A coalition of more than 20 political forces has lined up against him and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
On May 7, Modi himself also cast his vote in Gandhinagar constituency, where his government’s Minister of the Interior Amit Shah is the BJP candidate. On the occasion, Modi invited all citizens to participate in what he called a “celebration of democracy.”
Meanwhile, a dispute over election funding has erupted, with Modi and his rival Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress accusing each other of taking money from industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
