India votes in penultimate phase of seven-round general election

  12 May 2019    Read: 1331
India votes in penultimate phase of seven-round general election

Voters in Delhi and elsewhere in India’s north lined up early on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second-to-last round of a seven-phase general election, with the opposition seeking a united stand to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi a second term, Reuters reports.

More than 100 million people across seven states are eligible to vote in the sixth phase of the 39-day-long poll, which Modi began on April 11 as front-runner after an escalation of tension with neighbouring Pakistan.

But diverse opposition parties have recently taken heart at what they see as signs Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may be losing ground and have begun negotiations over a post-election alliance even before polling ends on May 19. Votes will be counted on May 23.

Some voters in Delhi said they were backing Modi because they were won over by his tough stand on security.


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