Delhi Votes Amid Protests Against Citizenship Law
FILE PHOTO: Voters stand in a queue as they wait to cast their vote outside a polling booth in New Delhi
Voters in New Delhi began voting on Saturday in a state election seen as a test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity following months of deadly anti-government protests over a new citizenship law.
The election comes as India’s economic growth is at its slowest in six years, and amid strong opposition to the law which makes it easier for non-Muslim persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries to become Indian citizens.
The law has stoked suspicion that Modi wants to turn secular India into a Hindu nation, something he rejects.
Modi appealed to voters to exercise their franchise. “Urging the people of Delhi, especially my young friends, to vote in record numbers,” he wrote on Twitter.
Polling is underway for 70 seats and the results will be announced on Feb. 11.
AAP has highlighted its work over the last five years to fix state schools and healthcare in the city of more than 16 million people.
The BJP, however, has focused on the work of Modi’s federal government since its re-election last May, in particular changes that have appealed to the party’s Hindu base such as reforms in the disputed Kashmir region and a court ruling, backed by the government, clearing the way for the construction of a Hindu temple on a long-disputed site in northern India.
