Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

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.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a temple Monday that embodies the triumph of his muscular Hindu nationalist politics, galvanising loyalists in an unofficial start to his re-election campaign this year.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi suffered a resounding defeat in a key state election on May 2, indicating his Hindu nationalist party's political strength may be slipping as the country struggles to contain an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases.

Indian police said on Feb. 28 they had detained hundreds of people and were keeping a heavy presence in northeast New Delhi, days after the worst bout of sectarian violence in the capital in decades.

At least 38 people were killed in Hindu-Muslim violence this week, police said, amid mounting international criticism that authorities failed to protect minority Muslims.

Mohammad Zubair was on his way home from a local mosque in northeast New Delhi when he came across a large crowd. He turned towards an underpass to avoid the commotion; it proved to be a mistake.   

Indians have begun voting in the first phase of a general election that is being seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reported BBC. 

Tens of millions of Indians across 20 states and union territories are voting in 91 constituencies.

The seven-phase vote to elect a new lower house of parliament will continue until 19 May. Counting day is 23 May.

China invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and six cabinet colleagues to its "new Silk Road" summit this month, even offering to rename a flagship Pakistani project running through disputed territory to persuade them to attend, a top official in Modi's ruling group and diplomats said.  

India is a country which is among the fastest growing countries in the world. The IMF and the World Bank forecast more than 7 percent annual growth for the next few years. With a population of 1.3 billion, which is set to pass China by 2050, it is a country that has gone to space and is a rising naval power with a nuclear submarine.

The Indian army patrolled riot-hit areas of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat on Aug. 27 after the death toll rose to seven in two days of caste-related violence. 

Clashes spread after police arrested a young leader of the influential Patel clan who led a huge rally on Aug. 25 to demand more government jobs and college places for members of his community. 

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon has accused India of fomenting intolerance with its ban on gay sex amid uproar over a ruling party minister's plans to make homosexuals "normal."

Speaking on a visit to the capital New Delhi, Ban said he "staunchly opposed the criminalisation of homosexuality" referring to India's colonial-era law that prohibits gay sex.