KOLKATA, India — Indians voted Sunday in the seventh and final phase of a grueling national election that lasted more than five weeks, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party seeks to govern for another five years. Vote counting begins on Thursday, and the election result will likely be known the same day. In Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, voters lined up outside polling stations early Sunday morning to avoid the scorching heat, with temperatures reaching up to 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit). While the election, which began April 11, was largely peaceful, West Bengal, located in eastern India, was an exception. Voter turnout in the first six rounds was approximately 66%, the Election Commission said, up from 58% in the last national vote in 2014.

Source: National Post May 19, 2019 02:05 UTC