PM Modi launches party’s election campaign, promises ‘new India’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially launched his party’s general election campaign on Thursday with a rally in India’s most populous state, promising development with national security. A coalition led by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is widely expected to retain power in an election beginning on April 11, Reuters said. “Our vision is of a new India that will be in tune with its glorious past,” Modi told the rally in the city of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh state. The rally was held in a field flanking a main road, surrounded by farmland. The general election is seen as the world’s biggest democratic exercise with about 900 million eligible voters. The election will be held in phases ending on May 19. Modi’s main challenger is the opposition Congress Party.