Voting began on Thursday in a high-stakes poll in India’s western Gujarat state, where results will provide an early indication of Narendra Modi’s chances of success in the 2024 general election.
Modi comes from Gujarat and ran the state for more than a decade during a controversial tenure from 2001 that was marked by deadly communal riots. He was appointed prime minister in 2014 after his Bharatiya Janata party won the first of its two terms in national office.
The BJP, which controls 111 of the 182 seats in Gujarat’s legislative assembly, has been campaigning on its economic record with the slogan “We have made this Gujarat”. Voting is set to take place in two rounds on Thursday and Sunday.