TRANSCRIPT:
India has around 970 million registered voters, which is ten percent of the global population.
That makes the country's general election unlike any other.
On one day each week until the first of June, polling will be held in constituencies across the country, some states - like Tamil Nadu - completing voting on a single day, while others - like Uttar Pradesh - have it spread out across weeks.
India’s prime minister ultimately is chosen not by voters, but by the party or coalition that wins the greatest number of seats - and that’s what this election is about: choosing 543 of the 545 members of the lower house of parliament, called the Lok Sabha.
To form government, a party or coalition needs a simple majority of 272.
Last election, the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies easily secured this, with a total of 353.
India’s incumbent prime minister Narendra Modi is widely expected to lead the B-J-P to a third straight election victory.
Political analyst and India expert Robyn Jeffrey says he has dominated the campaign.
"This election is really about one thing. It’s about Modi, Modi, Modi. Mr. Modi, I think, if he were not leading the (Bharatiya Janata Party) party, it would be, in racehorse terms, a much more interesting race that was being run. But with him leading the party, with the current favourable rating he has amongst the citizens of India. He is the issue. He is the issue and most voters seem to approve."
During Mr Modi’s second term in office, India passed its former coloniser the United Kingdom, to become the world’s fifth largest economy.
Pradeep Taneja, from the Australia India Institute, told SBS News that socioeconomic indicators for things like basic health and education have not seen a radical improvement under Modi, particularly in Northern India.
But he says the Modi government is credited with investing strongly in infrastructure and extending welfare to the poor, in the form of gas cylinders, toilets, electricity and direct cash transfers.
"India's macro-economic indicators look very good; 7.4 per cent growth last year. When you look at inflation, inflation is much higher than it was. Prices of petrol, prices of food are much higher than they were when BJP came to power in 2014.”
The BJP leads a coalition called the National Democratic Alliance, or the N-D-A.
Part of the BJP’s popularity especially in the north and west of India, is its appeal to Hindu nationalism, which is known as Hindutva.
Manoj Joshi is from the Observer Research Foundation.
"BJP has weaponized Hinduism. That's why it's called Hindutva. What they have done is to use religion as a tool of political mobilisation and a very useful tool for them because they're able to often overcome the traditional caste differences in India."
Trying to stop Modi and the BJP’s bid for re-election is a coalition of more than two dozen opposition parties called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA.
It includes the main opposition Indian National Congress party, and an array of regional parties.
But while the public face of the opposition is Rahul Gandhi, the alliance has not actually nominated its candidate for prime minister.
Pradeep Taneja explains.
“BJP will capitalise on that. They will say, 'prime Minister Modi is very popular, and if he is not elected Prime Minister, then who would be the alternative?'"
Narendra Modi has publicly stated his goal of winning 400 seats at this election - but the BJP gaining seats this year is not guaranteed.
Manjoj Joshi says the country faces high youth unemployment, and low literacy and health outcomes in especially rural areas.
"The very fact that the government is giving free grains to 800 million people is the biggest indicator that poverty is very much around. It hasn't gone away."
Election results will be released on the fourth of June.
If the BJP does increase its majority in the parliament, and if it does so with new support from voters in southern states, the Modi government will argue it has an unassailable mandate to pursue all of its policies, controversial as some of them have been.
