VARANASI, India, June  1, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi said on Saturday he was confident of his return to power after voting
ended in the country's six-week election, a marathon contest bedevilled by
successive punishing heatwaves.

       Modi has long been widely expected to win a third term when results are
announced Tuesday, in large part due to his cultivated image as an aggressive
champion of India's majority faith.

       Exit polls are expected to give some initial indication of whether he has
succeeded later on Saturday night, although they are historically unreliable at
capturing trends in an election with 968 million eligible voters.

       Modi himself was certain that he had, saying he was confident that "the
people of India have voted in record numbers" to re-elect his government.

       "They have seen our track record and the manner in which our work has
brought about a qualitative change in the lives of the poor, marginalised and
downtrodden," he said in a post on social media platform X.

       Many in the 73-year-old premier's constituency of Varanasi who cast their
votes on Saturday were excited about the prospect of his return to power.

       "I voted for growth and development of my country," Varanasi resident
Brijesh Taksali told AFP outside a polling station.

       "There's only one leader that I know... Narendra Modi. I voted for him."

       Varanasi is the spiritual capital of the Hindu faith, where devotees from
around India come to cremate deceased loved ones by the Ganges river.

       It was one of the final cities to vote in India's gruelling election, and
where public support for Modi's ever-closer alignment of religion and politics
burns brightest.
       
       - 'Politics of temples' -
       
       Modi presided over the inauguration this year of a grand temple to the
deity Ram, built on the grounds of a centuries-old mosque in Ayodhya razed by
Hindu zealots in 1992.

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

       The ceremony, and numerous other chest-beating demonstrations of fidelity
to India's majority religion over the past decade, have made many among the
country's 200 million-plus minority Muslim community increasingly uneasy about
their futures.

       Modi himself made a number of strident comments about Muslims on the
campaign trail, referring to them as "infiltrators".

       He has also accused the motley coalition of more than two dozen opposition
parties contesting the poll against him of plotting to redistribute India's
wealth to its Muslim citizens.

       Janesar Akhtar, a Muslim clothesmaker working in Varanasi's famed
embroidery workshops, told AFP that the BJP's sectarian campaigning was an
unfortunate distraction from India's chronic unemployment problems.

       "Workshops here are closing down and the Modi government has been busy with
the politics of temples and mosques," the 44-year-old said.

       "He is supposed to give us jobs and not tensions."
       
       - 'A lot more respect' -
    
       
       Analysts have long expected Modi to triumph against the opposition
alliance, which at no point has named an agreed candidate for prime minister.

       His prospects have been further bolstered by several criminal probes into
the bloc's leaders, which they say are orchestrated by Modi's government.

       Western democracies have largely sidestepped concerns over rights and
democratic freedoms in the hopes of cultivating an ally that can help check the
growing assertiveness of China, India's northern neighbour and rival regional
power.

       Modi's image at home has been bolstered by India's rising diplomatic and
economic clout -- the country overtook Britain as the world's fifth-biggest
economy in 2022.

       "As an Indian, I feel that he has ensured a lot of respect and prestige for
India during his term," Shikha Aggarwal, 40, told AFP while waiting to cast her
vote.

       "People now look at India and Indians with a lot more respect, something
not accorded earlier."
       
       - 'Stay hydrated' -
    
       
       India voted in seven phases over six weeks to ease the immense logistical
burden of staging an election in the world's most populous country.

       Turnout is down several percentage points from the last national election
in 2019, with analysts blaming widespread expectations of a Modi victory as
well as successive heatwaves scorching India's northern states.

       Authorities in the eastern state of Bihar said on Friday that 10 poll
workers had died of heatstroke the previous day while setting up for the vote.

       Extensive scientific research shows climate change is causing heatwaves to
become longer, more frequent and more intense, with Asia warming faster than
the global average.

       A scorching sun bore down on Varanasi and its many temples and riverside
crematoriums during Saturday's vote, with afternoon temperatures peaking at 45
degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).

       "The last few days have been very tough," said housewife Bindwasvini Devi,
who voted soon after polls opened to beat the scorching temperatures.

       "We've tried to stay hydrated and avoided going out as much as possible."