Election officials sailed boats and ships, trekked through dense forest and summited mountains to carry voting machines to even the most remote parts of India for national elections.
The mammoth vote that began on Thursday ends May 19, and counting will he held on May 23.
Four people were killed in election-related clashes in three Indian states.
Still, in most places, the atmosphere was festive with men and women in colorful traditional attire heading to voting stations to cast ballots on electronic voting machines. Voting also took place in parts of troubled Kashmir where insurgents fighting against Indian rule called for a boycott.
The elections are widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has been credited by supporters with India’s booming economy but criticized for engendering anti-Muslim sentiment.
The main opposition Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi are contesting for parliamentary seats from northern Uttar Pradesh state. Amid much fanfare, supporters waved party flags with the open, palm-facing hand symbol and shouted: “Long live Rahul Gandhi” and “Long live Sonia Gandhi” as they accompanied their leaders in slow-moving parades to submit the nomination documents at election offices.
With 900 million of India’s 1.3 billion people registered to vote, it is the world’s largest democratic exercise, and the largest-ever election. Over the seven phases of voting, 543 Lok Sahba seats will be decided at about a million polling stations across India.
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