World's largest democracy all set for Lok Sabha battle

"Any election that India has seen has been an important exercise because nowhere so many people go out and vote together," political expert Mridula Mukherjee told IANS.

"It is a significant event in democratic experiment because all the elections have seen power being handed over from one hand to another, and smoothly," the academic said.

Although fingers are still crossed on whether the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will secure a majority in the 545-member Lok Sabha, the Congress and its shrunken United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which has ruled India since 2004 look bruised.

Exploiting popular disgust vis-a-vis the Congress-led government, BJP's prime ministerial candidate and Hindutva icon Narendra Modi has been leading his party's charge asking people to elect at least 300 MPs from his coalition.