Indians go to polls tomorrow

Roughly 900 million registered voters will begin heading to the polls tomorrow (Thursday) as India begins a marathon, six-week general election that will determine the course of the world's second-most populous country, report agencies.

The election will be held in seven phases and votes will be counted on May 23, with results likely to be clear the same day.

Modi's ruling alliance will win a thin majority in a general election, an average of four opinion polls showed, with a focus on national security appearing to trump concerns over jobs and farm prices.

The coalition led by BJP is expected to win 273 of the 543 parliament seats at stake, one more than the halfway mark required to rule.

In the last election the alliance won more than 330 seats - the biggest mandate in three decades.

Most of the polling agencies that released surveys in the last four days said Modi got a boost from recent tension with arch enemy Pakistan after a militant group based there killed 40 Indian policemen in the disputed region of Kashmir in February.

"However, when it comes to controlling and responding on terror the same set of respondents do feel a clear and visible difference."