British News Agency

Voting has begun in India's massive general election as Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata party hopes to increase its parliamentary majority amid claims that democracy has weakened since he came to power ten years ago.

India's election is the largest democratic election in the world with more than 969 million voters, more than 10 percent of the world's population. Voting began at 8 a.m. on Friday, when polls opened in 102 constituencies across the country, and will continue for the next six weeks, in seven phases, until June 1. All results will be tallied and announced on June 4.

Modi and the BJP are expected to win a third term in power, according to the most predictable polls conducted by analysts in India in decades.

While polls show Modi is India's most popular political leader by a wide margin, political opponents have accused the government of eroding the integrity of Indian democracy and electoral processes.

Critics allege that the BJP government has systematically used the tools of the state to hunt down and jail political opponents and undermined the independence of key state institutions such as the election commission and the judiciary that oversee and enforce election rules, but the government denies this charge.