Elections in India | Last day of voting in stifling heat

(Varanasi) India completes a long six-week process of general elections on Saturday, with the vote, in the middle of a heatwave, in the spiritual capital of Hinduism, the stronghold of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his nationalist campaign.

A victory for the prime minister for a third term is the most likely outcome, largely thanks to his image as a fierce defender of India’s majority religion. Results are expected Tuesday.

The opposition accused Mr. Modi of making comments stigmatizing Muslims and fueling interreligious tensions in the middle of the electoral process.

Varanasi (or Benares), the 73-year-old prime minister’s constituency in the north of the country, is the spiritual capital of Hinduism, and the place where worshipers from all over India come to cremate their dead loved ones on the banks of the Ganges.

It is one of the last cities where people vote, following a staged electoral process, often in grueling heat.

Temperatures in Varanasi are forecast to reach 44 degrees on Saturday, while temperatures have exceeded 45°C in many cities in recent days.

“It’s already very hot,” observes Chinta Devi, who arrived to vote at eight in the morning. For several days in the Hindu city crushed by heat, “the streets and markets have been empty,” she told AFP.

In the state of Bihar (east), ten electoral agents died on Thursday while setting up polling stations.

“Feeling of pride”

Varanasi is the city where public support for the policy of strengthening ties between Hinduism and power, led by Mr. Modi, is strongest.

“Modi is clearly winning,” Vijayendra Kumar Singh, who works in one of the many hotels in this popular pilgrimage site, told AFP.

“There’s a sense of pride in everything he does, and that’s why people vote for him.”

Narendra Modi has already given his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two landslide victories in 2014 and 2019, largely thanks to his appeal to the Hindu electorate.

This year, he grandly inaugurated a grand temple dedicated to the deity Rama in Ayodhya on the site previously occupied by a centuries-old mosque that was razed by Hindu fanatics in 1992.

The construction of the temple, long demanded by promoters of Hinduism, was celebrated across the country, with live broadcasts and street parties.

This inauguration, as well as numerous other signals in favor of India’s majority religion over the past decade, have stoked concerns among the Muslim minority, numbering more than 200 million people.

Narendra Modi himself made controversial remarks towards Muslims during his campaign, calling them “infiltrators”. He also accused the opposition coalition, formed by two dozen parties from various sides, of wanting to redistribute India’s wealth to Muslims.

Janesar Akhtar, a Muslim clothing manufacturer from Varanasi, believes the BJP’s nationalist campaign is a distraction from the country’s unemployment problems. “The workshops are closing here and the Modi government is busy with the policy of temples and mosques,” the 44-year-old man told AFP.

Analysts have long counted on a victory for Mr. Modi against an opposition alliance, which has not nominated a candidate for the post of prime minister.

Several legal investigations opened against his opponents and a tax investigation which this year froze the bank accounts of Congress, India’s largest opposition party, have further strengthened his ascendancy.

Western democracies have largely turned a blind eye to threats to rights and freedoms in the country, in order to preserve a valuable ally in the face of China’s growing assertiveness.

Narendra Modi’s image has been bolstered at home by India’s growing diplomatic and economic influence, which overtook Britain as the world’s fifth-largest economy in 2022.

“As an Indian, I feel that he brought a lot of respect and prestige to India during his mandate,” Shikha Aggarwal, 40, told AFP after leaving a polling station Saturday.

Indian voters voted in seven phases over six weeks to facilitate the immense logistical operation of organizing an election in the world’s most populous country.

The count and results are expected Tuesday, but exit polls released after polls close Saturday are expected to provide some indication of who wins.