India holds general elections today

NEW DELHI/JERUSALEM: Indians will head to the polls today (Thursday) to vote in the first phase of a general election. While Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu won re-election as rival conceded defeat.

Tens of millions of Indians across 20 states and union territories will cast their votes in 91 constituencies. The seven-phase vote to elect a new lower house of parliament will continue until 19 May. The counting day is 23 May. With 900 million eligible voters, this is the largest election ever seen.

Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a historic landslide in the last elections in 2014 and now seems in a good position to win election.

The Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament has 543 elected seats and any party or coalition needs a minimum of 272 MPs to form a government.

The BJP has been campaigning to retain a commanding majority, but faces challenges from strong regional parties and a resurgent Congress party, led by Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi's father, grandmother and great-grandfather are all former Indian prime ministers. His sister, Priyanka Gandhi, formally joined politics in January.

Meanwhile, India banned Wednesday the release of a biopic about Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the country´s marathon elections after complaints that the flattering portrayal would give the ruling party an unfair advantage.

Under Indian election rules, the publication of any content deemed as campaign material--including advertisements, films and even social media--requires the election commission´s prior approval. The commission -- which organises the world´s biggest democratic poll with 900 million eligible voters choosing 543 MPs -- said the film "has the potential to disturb the level playing field during the elections".

Congress insisted it was propaganda and resisted the timing of its release, even taking its fight to the country´s highest court. The movie tells the story of the Hindu nationalist leader´s ascent to power from his days selling tea at a train station.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday with religious-rightist parties set to hand him a parliamentary majority despite a close contest against his main centrist challenger, a vote tally showed.

With more than 97 percent of votes counted, Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Party looked likely to muster enough support to control 65 of the Knesset’s 120 seats and be named to head the next coalition government. It would be his record fifth term as premier.

President Reuven Rivlin said on Twitter he would begin meeting next week with political parties that won parliamentary seats to hear who they support for prime minister.

The close and often vitriolic contest was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on Netanyahu’s character and record in the face of corruption allegations. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all of them.

Despite that, Netanyahu gained four seats compared to his outgoing coalition government, according to a spreadsheet published by the Central Elections Committee of parties that garnered enough votes to enter the next parliament. “It is a night of colossal victory,” the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv after Tuesday’s vote.

“He’s a magician!” the crowd chanted as fireworks flared and Netanyahu kissed his wife Sara.

His challenger, the new Blue and White Party of ex-army chief Benny Gantz, claimed a more modest victory after winning a 35-seat tie with Likud. Should Netanyahu retain the helm, he will become the longest-serving Israeli prime minister in July, overtaking the country’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion.