Indians voted in searing summer heat on Saturday in the final phase of the world’s biggest election, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a rare third term in a poll focussed on inequality and religion.

More than 100 million people are registered to vote for 57 seats across eight states and federal territories in the seventh phase of the election, including in Modi’s constituency in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, Reuters reported.

“Calling upon the voters to turnout in large numbers and vote,” Modi said as polls opened in the northern state of Punjab and the eastern states of Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha. “Together, let’s make our democracy more vibrant and participative.”

His Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), battling an opposition alliance of two dozen parties led by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress, is widely expected to keep its majority in the election with more than 1 billion registered voters.

But the BJP has run into a spirited campaign by the opposition “INDIA” alliance, sowing some doubt about how close the race might be.

Public exit polls, banned during the six weeks of voting, are expected to be released after voting ends at 6:30 p.m. (1300 GMT, although they have a patchy record and have sometimes been widely off the mark.

Election results are to be announced on Tuesday.

Scorching summer temperatures with unusually severe heatwaves, have compounded voter fatigue, with at least 33 people killed by suspected heatstroke, including nearly two dozen election officials. Temperatures reached 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in many voting areas on Saturday.

Unemployment and inflation are the main concerns for voters in the majority-Hindu country of 1.4 billion people.

“We have been enduring a prolonged poll schedule. I pray that it comes to a peaceful end today,” said Sanant Basu, a resident of West Bengal’s capital Kolkata, as sporadic violence marred voting in at least two seats.

People queued early outside polling stations in parts of Punjab state, where farmers have been protesting for minimum price guarantees for their crops.

Sarabjeet Kaur, 51, said she was dismayed by all the mainstream parties. “No party is bothered about us until elections arrive every five years.”

Harpreet Singh, 32, from Punjab’s Firozpur said, “BJP will not be successful here. It’s bye-bye to Modi this time, Congress will be winning.”

Modi began his re-election campaign by focussing on his achievements over the last 10 years but soon switched to mostly targeting the Congress by accusing it of favouring India’s minority Muslims, which the party denies.

The opposition has largely campaigned on affirmative action and saving the constitution from what they call Modi’s dictatorial rule, an allegation the BJP denies.

A bus carrying pilgrims fell into a deep gorge in the northern Indian federal territory of Jammu on Thursday, killing at least 21 people and injuring dozens, authorities said.

The bus, which began its journey in Kurukshetra in the northern Haryana state was headed to a Hindu temple in Jammu when it rolled into the gorge, a police spokesperson said.

A rescue operation was ongoing, said the police official, adding that 40 injured people were admitted to the government medical college in Jammu for treatment, Reuters reported.

Pakistan’s former premier Nawaz Sharif was reelected president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N party on Tuesday. He last held the position in 2017, when he was forced out of office amid corruption allegations.

The PML-N came into power with the Feb. 8 elections that Sharif’s key rival, former premier Imran Khan, alleged were rigged, Associated Press reported.

Sharif’s younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif, now leads a coalition government and Sharif is a member of Parliament.

Nawaz Sharif was ousted from power in 2017 when the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding any public office over concealing financial assets, a charge Sharif denies. His conviction and sentences were overturned last year, allowing him to hold any public or party office.

Sharif returned to Pakistan in October from self-imposed exile in London, where he went in 2019 for medical treatment when Khan was in power.

Khan was ousted through a no-confidence vote in 2022 and is serving multiple prison terms.