India PM Modi's home state votes in key polls

Voters in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat cast ballots on Thursday in crucial local elections, a vote that is seen as a barometer of his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s popularity ahead of a 2024 general election in India. The polls were the first of two phases of voting in the western state that Modi ruled as chief minister for over a decade before he led his ruling party to victories in national elections in 2014 and 2019.

A second round of voting will take place on Monday before votes are counted December 8. The BJP has been in power in Gujarat, a state of more than 60 million, since 1995. Most pre-election surveys and several political analysts have predicted that it will win a majority of the 182 seats in the state for a record seventh time in a row.