Narendra Modi’s picture is on everything from big banners in cities and villages to packets of rice distributed to the underprivileged during India’s six-week general election.
In its pursuit of a super-majority in India’s parliament, the prime minister’s popularity is being relied upon by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Its argument is that Modi has raised India’s profile internationally, boosted economic growth, and upgraded infrastructure.
However, in addition to targeting 400 of the 543 seats in India’s lower house of parliament (up from 352 won in 2019), the Hindu nationalist party and its allies are also using local strategies in several crucial seats they want to seize from the opposition.
When voting concludes on June 1, opinion polls suggest that Modi will secure a rare third term.
However, a party has only ever exceeded the 400 threshold in Indian history once, and that was when the center-left Congress party easily won after its leader Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984.
Reuters spoke with nine National Democratic coalition (NDA) officials, three opposition leaders, two political analysts, and voters in six opposition-held seats that the coalition is aiming for in order to analyze how the right-wing alliance hopes to accomplish that feat and the challenges it confronts.
