NEW DELHI �� India will hold elections from April 11 to May 19 to decide whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins a second term as leader of the world's largest democracy.
About 900 million voters will elect 543 lawmakers to the lower house of parliament, the chief election commissioner Sunil Arora said. Counting will take place on May 23 and results are likely to be announced that day.
The prime minister's popularity has waned over rising concerns about lack of job creation and rural distress.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Congress party �� led by Rahul Gandhi �� is gaining lost ground and electoral momentum after taking power from Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party in three states in December.
Voting in India does not take place on a single day. Because of the daunting logistics of overseeing the world's largest electorate �� stretching from the Himalayas in the north to tropical jungles �� the voting is stretched out over several weeks.
Elections will take place in seven phases �� April 11, 18, 23 and 29 and May 6, 12 and 19, Arora announced in New Delhi Sunday.
Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP is counting on his welfare programs to win votes, including the provision of toilets, electricity connections and cooking gas for the poor, small business loans, annual income support for farmers and lower taxes for the middle class. BJP leaders are also focusing on religious nationalism, including protection of cows, which are considered sacred by India's majority Hindu population.
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(Vrishti Beniwal, Iain Marlow and P R Sanjai contributed to this report.)
