Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi after voting in the Lok Sabha elections 2024
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi voted today as the country's six-week election resumed, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rivals accusing his government of unjustly targeting them in criminal probes.
PM Modi, 73, remains roundly popular after a decade in office and his ruling BJP is widely expected to win a third term next month after a poll hit by recurrent early summer heatwaves.
His prospects have been further bolstered by several criminal investigations into his opponents, sparking concerns from UN rights chief Volker Turk.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi cast his ballot at a polling station in Delhi, where temperatures were forecast to reach 43 degree Celsius.
A son, grandson, and great-grandson of former prime ministers, Rahul Gandhi paused after voting to take a selfie with his mother Sonia Gandhi, but did not speak to crowds of reporters.
The scion of a dynasty that dominated Indian politics for decades, he was convicted of criminal libel last year after a complaint by BJP leader.
His two-year prison sentence saw him disqualified from parliament until the verdict was suspended by the Supreme Court.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, 55, and chief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who was detained in March in a long-running graft case, also voted today.
The Supreme Court bailed Mr Kejriwal earlier this month, and he returned to the campaign trail. "Modi has started a very dangerous mission," he said soon after his release. "Modi will send all opposition leaders to jail," he said.
The Congress is spearheading an Opposition alliance of more than two dozen parties competing jointly against PM Modi, including the AAP.
Mr Kejriwal's organisation grew out of an anti-corruption movement a decade ago, and has been elected to office in Delhi and Punjab, but has struggled to establish itself as a nationwide force.
In February, the authorities froze several Congress bank accounts as part of a running dispute over income tax returns filed five years ago, a move the Gandhis said had severely impacted the party's ability to contest the election.
"We have no money to campaign, we cannot support our candidates," Rahul Gandhi told reporters in March.
Heatwave 'Red Alert'
India is voting in seven phases over six weeks to ease the immense logistical burden of staging an election in the world's most populous country.
Turnout is down several percentage points from the last national poll in 2019, with analysts blaming widespread expectations of a PM Modi victory as well as hotter-than-average temperatures heading into the summer.
India's weather bureau this week issued a heatwave "red alert" for Delhi and surrounding states where tens of millions of people were casting their ballots on Saturday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of heightened health risks for infants, the elderly and those with chronic diseases.
Extensive scientific research shows climate change is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense, with Asia warming faster than the global average.