Polling begins in India’s marathon general elections as Modi seeks third term

Indians started voting on Friday in the world’s largest election as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a historic third term, setting a target of 370 seats for the BJP and over 400 for the NDA.

Voters will cast ballots in 102 parliamentary constituencies in 21 states to exercise their fundamental right to choose their representatives, 543 lawmakers, with 166.3 million people eligible to vote.

In the first phase of voting, 166.3 million voters are eligible to vote, for which around 187,000 polling stations have been set up.

There are 1,625 candidates in the fray, while 3.5 million first-time voters are registered to cast their votes.