Biggest Phase of Voting Begins in India’s Election

Opposition’s Gandhi also in fray along with 1,640 candidates
BJP to defend 62 seats, Congress seeks to improve tally of 16

Voters at a polling station during the third phase of India’s general election in Guwahati, Assam, on April 23.Photographer: Biju Boro/AFP via Getty Images

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By Bibhudatta Pradhan

April 23, 2019 at 5:34 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Indian voters on Tuesday will decide the electoral fate of 1,640 candidates, including the heads of the nation’s two main political parties, in the third and the biggest round of polling.

About 188 million people are eligible to cast their votes in 116 constituencies spread across 13 states and two federally-administered territories. They will decide whether the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah and opposition Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi will be elected as lawmakers to the lower house of parliament.