India PM Modi's home state Gujarat votes in key local polls
Voters in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat are casting ballots in crucial local elections
NEW DELHI (AP) — Voters in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat cast ballots Thursday in crucial local elections, a vote that is seen as a barometer of his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s popularity ahead of a 2024 general election in India.
The polls are the first of two phases of voting in the western state that Modi ruled as chief minister for over a decade before he led his ruling Hindu nationalist party to victories in national elections in 2014 and 2019.
A second round of voting will take place Monday before votes are counted Dec. 8.
Modi’s party remains popular despite criticism of inflation and unemployment and is expected to emerge victorious. Most pre-election surveys and several political analysts have predicted that it will win a majority of the 182 seats in the state for a record seventh time in a row, defeating the main opposition Congress party and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party.
