The election machinery in India, the most populous country on the planet, started this Friday. Almost 970 million people are called to the polls throughout seven phases deployed over the next 44 days.
We will have to wait until June 4 to know the results. The electoral climate is divisive after 10 years – two terms – of Narendra Modi in power. The opposition denounces remote-directed political persecution by state institutions and tiptoes around serious issues like inflation, unemployment, and the plight of farmers. It warns that secularism, enshrined in the constitution, could be compromised if he wins the BJP again with a discourse inflamed with religion. “I make a special appeal to young people and those who vote for the first time to vote in large numbers," Modi posted on the social network X shortly after the polls opened. "Every vote counts and every voice matters." Youth is an electoral treasure to be pampered in a subcontinent in a region of immense potential.