Polls open in southern India state where PM's party faces fierce battle

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced a key test Wednesday as the only southern state where his Hindu nationalist BJP party holds power went to the polls a year before national elections.

The BJP has applied its muscular brand of Hindu politics to Karnataka as it attempts to make further inroads in the south of the country of 1.4 billion people, where other parties have long held sway.

A 72-year-old Modi, who is widely expected to run again in the 2024 national elections, encouraged people to vote while chanting an ode to the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. People wait in queues at polling stations in Bengaluru to cast their votes in the crucial test for Modi.