"In the grand festival of democracy, everyone who contributes deserves to be congratulated," Modi, 73, told reporters in Ahmedabad, appealing to the people to come out and vote to elect 543 members of the lower house of parliament and celebrate the "festival of democracy". Modi, who leads the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is widely seen as the front-runner in the seven-phase election that began on April 11 and will end on May 19, involving 968 million voters. The opposition and rights activists have alleged a democratic backsliding, accusing Modi of favouring India's majority Hindus over large minorities, including 210 million Muslims. Modi, in turn, has accused the main opposition Congress party of seeking to dole out "national wealth" to "infiltrators", a term often used to refer to Muslims. The comments drew a complaint to the election authorities, which cleared the prime minister, but India, a secular democracy by constitution, has an electoral code that prohibits appeals to "communal feelings". Since Modi came to power in 2014, India has fallen to 159th place out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which said the ranking was "unworthy of a democracy". In a recent interview with The Times of India, Modi rejected any authoritarian drift, accusing the opposition of "defaming" India abroad. Voter turnout in the general election has so far been lower than in 2019, with some analysts attributing the decline to "a certain lack of interest" among voters, and others to a heatwave sweeping the country. On April 26, the day he cast his vote, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh recorded 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit), and the Election Commission said turnout there was down by nearly nine percentage points compared with 2019. The weather service has forecast high temperatures in coming days in several states, including Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, which vote in the third of the seven phases. In Telangana state, which votes in late May, authorities have said polling stations will remain open for an extra hour because of the heat. Modi, after casting his vote on Tuesday, urged voters to drink "as much water as possible". Read Also: Primeiro-ministro Modi vota na terceira fase das legislativas na Índia (Portuguese version)