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Lok Sabha election 2024: World’s biggest poll kicks off as India begins voting - BBC News Lok Sabha election 2024: World’s biggest poll kicks off as India begins voting - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
The election is taking place in an atmosphere of acrimony.
Opposition leaders have accused Mr Modi's government of weaponising federal agencies to crack down on its opponents and reduce the chances of a fair election.
Weeks before polling started, authorities arrested Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwalon corruption allegations. Just weeks earlier, the financial crime agency arrested had another opposition chief minister - Hemant Soren of Jharkhand state.
As millions of Indians head to polling booths, what is on their minds? Both are members of the opposition's INDIA alliance and deny the allegations against them, saying the cases are politically motivated. The BJP says investigative agencies are just doing their job.
A pre-poll survey conducted by think-tank CSDS-Lokniti found that unemployment, price rise and development topped the list of voters’ concerns. It said that 27% of respondents considered unemployment to be the most important issue for them - a huge increase from 11% in a similar survey before the 2019 election. In February, the main opposition Congress party said itsbank accounts were frozenby the income-tax department. The party said it was the government's attempt to financially cripple its campaigns ahead of voting - a charge the BJP denies.
The percentage of respondents concerned about inflation also rose by 19% compared with 2019.
Only 8% of respondents voluntarily raised corruption and a grand new Hindu temple as important concerns.
The temple to the Hindu god Ram, inaugurated by Mr Modi in January, was a longstanding poll promise of his party. It was built on the site of a 16th-Century mosque torn down by Hindu mobs in 1992, sparking deadly riots in the country.
In the survey, more than 22% of the respondents said the temple topped their list of the action they "liked most" from the current government while nearly half said the temple's construction
would help consolidate Hindu identity.
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