India's mammoth parliamentary elections came to a close on Saturday after more than six weeks of voting across the country, with with Prime Minister Ravendra Modi's governing BJP party expected to win a further term in office.
The final polling stations closed in the world's most populous democracy at 6 pm (1230 GMT), with results not expected until June 4.
Modi is favoured to win a third five-year term in office, with his nationalist BJP party hoping to extend its parliamentary majority.
The 73-year-old would be the first Indian leader to win a third term since inaugural prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1950s.
More than 500 seats were up for grabs in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, with at least 8,000 candidates standing.
Around 970 million voters were eligible to take part in the election, held across more than 1 million polling stations in several phases beginning in mid-April.
Modi remains popular in India, and the campaign by the BJP - which translates as Indian People's Party - focused heavily on his personality and charisma.
The political opposition is relatively weak and fractured. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's Congress Party, which once dominated Indian politics after independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, now holds power in only three of India's 28 states.
Under Modi, India has risen to become the world's fifth-largest economic power and is also playing an increasingly important political role as a counterweight to China.
Modi has invested heavily in modern infrastructure projects such as roads, high-speed trains and airports. But economic growth has not been evenly distributed.
Unemployment remains high and poverty widespread, with many struggling to afford the basic necessities. According to the World Bank, the gross domestic product per capita is around $2,000 per year.
Hinduism, the religion of about 80% of Indian's population, has moved to the centre of national identity. Opponents warn that religious minorities, such as the country's 200 million Muslims, are becoming second-class citizens and subject to growing discrimination.
Modi's election campaign has further inflamed religious tensions. At the start of his campaign, Modi consecrated a Hindu temple on the site of a centuries-old mosque that was destroyed in 1992 by Hindu fanatics.
The election campaign was also hit by a severe heatwave, with temperatures surpassing 50 degrees Celsius in the north of the country. Local media reported that some election workers were among those affected, with some suffering fatal heatstroke.
