Modi's party bids to retain power in south Indian bastion

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced a key test Wednesday as the only southern state where his Hindu nationalist BJP party holds power went to the polls a year before national elections.

The BJP has applied its muscular brand of Hindu politics to Karnataka as it attempts to make further inroads in the south of the country of 1.4 billion people, where other parties have long held sway.

Last year, the government banned the hijab – the headscarf worn by some women in the Muslim minority – in Karnataka government schools, stoking sectarian tensions and sparking violence.

In one of almost 20 election rallies he has held in the state, Modi praised an incendiary new film that wildly exaggerates the number of Hindu women converting to Islam and joining the Islamic State jihadist group.

In another speech, the 72-year-old Modi, who is widely expected to run again in the 2024 national elections, encouraged people to vote while chanting an ode to the Hindu monkey god Hanuman.

Karnataka's most recent election in 2018 saw the BJP emerge as the top vote-getter but fall short of securing a ruling majority in the state of over 60 million people.

They assumed power a year later – allegedly by persuading members of the ruling coalition to defect.

But staying in power could be hard, with the BJP's popularity hit by corruption allegations and the opposition Congress party campaigning hard on promises of free electricity and rice for the poor.

Congress has also promised to ban Bajrang Dal, a Hindu nationalist group, if voted to power, prompting BJP accusations that it is against the Hindu majority.

But political scientist Sanjay Kumar said that while a loss in Karnataka would be a blow to the BJP, it offered little indication of how the BJP would perform nationwide in 2024.

"Whether the party wins an election or loses an election, they just look forward to the next election," Kumar told AFP.

Results from the state election are due on Saturday.