(Reuters) -India has been holding the world's biggest election since April 19, with nearly 1 billion people eligible to vote. The turnout, however, has been lower so far than the last time amid a heat wave.
Some analysts say Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a rare straight third term, is facing a tougher fight from the opposition than predicted by opinion polls before voting began. Voting concludes on Saturday and counting will be on June 4.
WHAT IS IT?
The elections are to 543 contested seats in the lower house of parliament, called the Lok Sabha, for a term of five years. To rule, a party or a coalition needs a simple majority of 272 seats. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 303 seats at the last election in 2019, followed by 52 for the main opposition Indian National Congress (INC).
In addition to the contested seats, India's president can nominate up to two Anglo-Indians to the Lok Sabha.
WHERE AND WHEN IS IT TAKING PLACE?
The elections are being conducted in seven phases partly to ensure sufficient security at polling booths across the vast country. Voters can make their choice by pressing a button on an electronic voting machine, first used in India in 1982 and more widely since the early 2000s.
Votes will be counted on June 4 after polling on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The world's most populous nation follows the first-past-the-post system, where voters cast a vote for a single candidate in a constituency and the candidate with the most votes wins the seat. The voting age is 18 years and contestants need to be at least 25 years old.
A total of 968 million voters are registered, out of which 497 million are men and 471 million are women.
WHO ARE THE MAIN CANDIDATES?
Modi headlines the race, followed by his de facto deputy Amit Shah and the main opposition face, Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party. Gandhi's mother Sonia, the matriarch of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, is not contesting this time.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT, WHAT ARE THE KEY ISSUES?
Modi is chasing a record-equalling third straight term like India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Modi says another overwhelming victory for the National Democratic Alliance, led by the BJP, is crucial to meet his goal of lifting India to a developed economy by 2047 from middle-income levels.
The world's fifth-largest economy has grown fast in the past few years and Modi has "guaranteed" to take it to the third position if he wins the election.
The BJP draws its support mainly from Hindus, who form 80% of the country's 1.42 billion people and for whom Modi earlier this year delivered on a key party promise of building a grand Hindu temple on a disputed site.
The opposition "INDIA" alliance, largely a centre-left grouping of more than two dozen disparate parties, says a victory for it is essential to save the country's democratic and secular setup, lift its marginalised communities, raise prices for farmers and create jobs for its young.
Opinion polls, which have a mixed record in India and were conducted before voting began, had predicted another thrashing of the Congress alliance at the hands of the BJP.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; Graphics by Kripa Jayaram and Anand Katakam; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
