<div> India is on course for a record turnout in its general election as a young electorate and women engage with politics more than ever before, with unpredictable results for a contest that opinion polls say opposition leader Narendra Modi will win.</div><div> </div><div>The Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies are seen as favourites to come to power when results of the five-week election are announced on May 16, displacing the Congress-led coalition that is battling public fury over a slowing economy, high inflation and a spate of corruption scandals.</div><div> </div><div>But regional parties will also play a key role, with most polls indicating that Modi's alliance will struggle to achieve a majority, falling short of winning 272 of the 543 seats in the lower house of parliament.</div><div> </div><div>"We have to be cautious. It's very hard to tell that increased turnout is good for the incumbent or bad for the incumbent," said Vivek Dehejia, an economics professor at Canada-based Carleton University.</div><div> </div><div>"It seems to represent people coming out to vote out the Congress-led government (but) every vote taken away from Congress does not necessarily mean it's for the BJP."</div><div> </div><div>The rising turnout is largely attributable to increased participation of younger and first-time voters, as well as women. These demographic groups have been targeted by the election commission with an outreach campaign since the last general election in 2009.</div><div> </div><div>The country has added over 23 million people in the 18-19 age group to voter rolls this time. This group now constitutes about 3 percent of total voters, against 0.75 percent in 2009.</div><div> </div><div>Among the first-time voters is 33-year-old Mriganka Dadwal, who feels "ashamed" to have never voted in elections after she turned 18, the minimum age required to cast vote in India.</div><div> </div><div>"I am proud of the fact that I realised and voted this time ... I am one of those who was very angry that why this kind of government is there," said Dadwal, who is the founder of an activist group promoting women's empowerment.</div><div> </div><div>In the first eight phases of the 10-phase election, 66.2 percent of registered voters exercised their right to vote, provisional data from the election commission showed.</div><div> </div><div>That compares with the previous best turnout of 64 percent during the 1984-85 parliamentary election, when Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi rode a sympathy wave to come to power after the assassination of his mother, then prime minister Indira Gandhi.</div><div> </div><div>The record is likely to be broken this year, Sanjay Kumar, director at the respected Indian polling group CSDS, told Reuters. CSDS expects a turnout of 65 percent, Kumar said.</div><div> </div><div>"We are looking for a very good turnout, it should be much better than before," said Akshay Rout, head of the election commission's voter education programme. "It is likely to be one of the highest."</div><div> </div><div>Of the 28 states and union territories that have gone to polls, 26 have recorded a higher turnout compared to the last parliamentary election, election commission data showed.<br /><br />(Reuters)</div>
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