After two rounds of polling, India’s BJP says confident of 400-seat mark

CHENNAI: India’s Interior Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday (April 30) said ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is on course of winning more than 400 seats in the country’s ongoing general elections after two rounds of polling.

Almost one billion people are eligible to vote in the seven-phase general election that began on April 19 and concludes on June 1, with votes set to be counted on June 4.

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Shah said the party and its allies, jointly known as National Democratic Alliance (NDA), were ‘winning’ 100 seats after the first and second phase of polling.

The first phase of the elections began on April 19, while the second phase took place on April 26.

Voter turnouts have remained significantly low with only 61 percent and 65 percent people turning out to vote in the second and first phases respectively.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a record-equalling third straight term on the back of his economic record, welfare measures, national pride, Hindu nationalism and personal popularity. Surveys suggest he will easily win a comfortable majority.

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His challengers have formed an alliance of more than two dozen parties and are promising greater affirmative action, more handouts and an end to what they call Modi’s autocratic rule.