India’s elections nearing end

Millions of Indian voters wrapped up the country's mammoth national elections Monday, braving the searing sun on the final day of polling in which a Hindu nationalist opposition candidate is seen as the front-runner for prime minister.

With 814 million eligible voters, India has been voting in phases over six weeks since April 7 with results expected Friday.

The main Hindu opposition Bharatiya Janata Party went into the elections with strong momentum on promises of economic growth. Early polls suggest there is deep dissatisfaction with the Indian National Congress party after 10 years in power. Pre-vote polls suggested the party could face a defeat because of corruption scandals and a prolonged economic slowdown.

Exit polls, which in India are notorious for being wrong, are expected Monday night after the final round of voting ends. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center said 63 percent of Indians prefer the BJP to the INC.

Thousands lined up early Monday to vote in the revered Hindu holy city of Varanasi, where Narendra Modi, the main BJP candidate for prime minister, is seeking election. 

Modi is locked in a battle with Arvind Kejriwal, chief of India's anti-corruption party, and Ajay Rai of the INC. 

Modi's critics question whether the Hindu nationalist can be a truly secular leader, noting that he has failed to take responsibility or apologize for anti-Muslim rioting that left more than 1,000 dead in his state in 2002. He is accused of doing little to stop the rampages, though he denies any wrongdoing and has never been charged with a crime.

On Monday violence erupted as the voting opened in West Bengal state, where Ajay Dasgupta, a Communist Party of India spokesman, accused governing Trinamool Congress workers of firing at his party supporters, wounding four of them.

The clash was reported in a village 20 miles northeast of Kolkata, the state capital. The Trinamool Congress party denied the charge. There has been scattered violence throughout the voting.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press