Indians voting as Narendra Modi takes aim at country’s Muslims

He has also accused the rival Indian National Congress party of scheming to “loot” wealth from the country’s Hindus and redistribute it among Muslims

A Muslim woman and a boy walk past portraits of elephant-headed Hindu God Ganesha, Jesus Christ and Islam’s holy sites of Mecca and Medina, in the southern Indian city of Chennai (Altaf Qadri/AP)

Millions of Indian voters across 93 constituencies were casting ballots as prime minister Narendra Modi has mounted an increasingly shrill election campaign, ramping up polarising rhetoric in incendiary speeches that have targeted the Muslim minority.

In recent campaign rallies, Mr Modi has called Muslims “infiltrators” and said they “have too many children”, referring to a Hindu nationalist trope that Muslims produce more children with the aim of outnumbering Hindus in India.