Millions of people across India are voting in the second phase of the staggered general elections in which opposition parties are trying to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi from winning a second term.

More than 155 million people are eligible to vote in the second phase, which covers 95 parliament constituencies in 12 states including parts of Indian-administered Kashmir.

The elections began last week and will end next month in a giant exercise involving almost 900 million people, who are expected to elect 543 members to the lower house of parliament called Lok Sabha.

The focus will be on the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where the main opposition Congress party and its allies need to win big if they hope to remove Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“If the non-BJP parties perform well in these two states, then they would still be having a chance of forming a non-BJP government at the centre,” said Sanjay Kumar, director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, a think-tank based in the capital, New Delhi.

Votes will be counted on May 23 and the results are expected the same day.

The BJP began the election as the frontrunner, with Modi setting national security as his campaign plank after a renewal of hostilities with neighbouring Pakistan.

[SOURCE: REUTERS NEWS AGENCY]