India Gears Up For 1St Steps In Multiphase Marathon General Elections

Voters in India are set to cast their vote in the first phase of the country's parliamentary elections - a marathon six-week process considered as the world's largest democratic exercise.

Voting to elect 543 lawmakers to the lower house of India's Parliament, known as the Lok Sabha, is being held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The vote count will take place on June 4.

A total of 102 parliamentary constituencies in 21 states are scheduled for polling on Friday in which 127 general observers, 67 police observers, and 167 expenditure observers have been deployed, according to the Election Commission of India.

The campaigning for phase one ended on Wednesday.

The states going to vote on Friday include the southern Tamil Nadu state with 39 seats, where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has done massive campaigning to woo the voters who mostly vote for regional parties.

This general election is primarily a battle between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the opposition alliance called INDIA, headed by the Indian National Congress.

Modi, seeking a record-levelling third consecutive term, has set a target of 370 seats for the BJP and over 400 for the NDA.

Ahead of the polls, Tamil Nadu's senior election official Satyrabrata Sahoo said all steps have been taken for the smooth conduct of polls.

Given the country's parts witnessing a heatwave, the country's Election Commission has also issued an advisory on the prevention of the heatwave impact.

Ahead of phase one of the elections, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote a letter to BJP-led National Democratic Alliance candidates stating that this "election is an opportunity to connect our present with a bright future."

"Every vote that the BJP gets will go towards forming a stable government and impart momentum in our journey to become a developed nation by 2047," he said.

"I am aware that the summer heat poses problems to everyone. But this election is extremely important for the future of our nation. Therefore, I appeal to the voters to cast their votes early in the morning, before the heat sets in." -