Modi seeks crowning victory in India election climax

VARANASI: Voters headed to the polls Monday in the climax of India´s marathon election, with frontrunner Narendra Modi seeking a crowning victory in the holy city of Varanasi for his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.

Modi is standing in the famed pilgrimage site on the banks of the river Ganges in the final phase of the world´s biggest election, a contest which has been marred by religious divisions and a vitriolic campaign. The 63-year-old, expected to become prime minister if the Hindu nationalist BJP and its allies secure a majority when results are announced on Friday, urged residents to turn out in record numbers.

Anti-corruption champion Arvind Kejriwal from the upstart Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party is also standing and hoping to upset Modi, who has spent little time in the city as he campaigned across the country.

The first voters filed into polling stations at 07:00 am (0130 GMT), with early queues indicating enthusiasm for the most high-profile contest of the five weeks of voting.

"I have voted for the about-to-be PM of India, Narendra Modi," 35-year-old Setupati Tripathi told after casting his ballot in Varanasi.

"He is winning for sure and that´s one reason of me voting for him. With him winning the Varanasi seat, I am also confident about the development of this millennia-old city as a tourist destination."

The Varanasi election is rich in religious symbolism, with Modi´s decision to stand here seen as reinforcing his Hindu nationalist credentials during a campaign when he has steered clear of the hardline rhetoric for which he was previously known. The four-time chief minister of western Gujarat state has campaigned on a pledge of development, investment and jobs to revive the flagging economy after 10 years of leftist rule by the Congress party.

But he remains a deeply polarising figure over allegations that he failed to swiftly curb deadly 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat which left at least 1,000 people dead shortly after he came to power there.

Varanasi, a sacred city around 420 miles (680 kilometres) east of Delhi where Hindus are cremated on the river banks, counts a large Muslim population which would be expected to vote against Modi.

"The way things have been shaping up in the last three days, everybody is saying Modi is losing," Kejriwal told reporters on Monday in Varanasi.