India polls open with Modi heavily favoured

India began voting Friday in a six-week election with an all but assured victory for Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a weakened opposition is pushed to the sidelines.

A total of 968 million people are eligible to take part in the world's biggest vote — a staggering logistical exercise that critics say follows a concerted effort to delegitimise rivals.

A long and winding queue was patiently assembled outside a polling station in the Hindu holy city of Haridwar, on the banks of the Ganges river, even before the booths opened.

Modi, 73, remains resoundingly popular after a decade in office that has seen India rise in diplomatic clout and economic power, as well as efforts by his government to bring the country's majority faith in ever closer alignment with its politics.

"I urge all those voting... to exercise their franchise in record numbers," he wrote in a social media post on X as the election began.

"Every vote counts and every voice matters!"

Modi has already led the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) through two landslide victories in 2014 and 2019, forged in large part by his appeals to the Hindu faithful.

This year, he presided over the inauguration of a grand temple to the deity Ram, built on the grounds of a centuries-old mosque razed by Hindu zealots.

"The nation is creating the genesis of a new history," Modi told the thousands gathered for the ceremony, among them Bollywood celebrities and cricket stars.

Construction of the temple fulfilled a long-standing demand of Hindu activists and was widely celebrated across India with back-to-back television coverage and street parties.

 'Pattern of repression' 

Analysts have long expected...