The world’s largest elections come to a close in India

New Delhi (AP) — The 6-week-long election in India closed on Saturday. The world’s largest election could also be one of its most consequential. Voters are choosing 543 members for the lower house of Parliament for a five-year term.

India has close to 970 million voters among its more than 1.4 billion people, and its general election pits Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an avowed Hindu nationalist, against a broad alliance of opposition parties that are struggling to play catch up.

The vote counting will start Tuesday and will be updated throughout the day. The election results will likely be known the same day.

Votes were cast at more than a million polling stations. Each of the seven voting phases lasted a single day with several constituencies across multiple states voting that day. The staggered polling allowed the government to transport election officials and voting machines and deploy tens of thousands of troops to prevent violence. Candidates crisscrossed the country, poll workers hiked to remote villages, and voters lined up for hours in sweltering heat.

Millions of Indians waited anxiously as the election authority prepared to count on Tuesday 642 million votes polled in the national election during a grueling six-week period.

Supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ and his Hindu nationalist party were already in a celebratory mood with exit polls predicting a massive win and a third term for Modi as India’s prime minister.

Most exit polls project Modi is set to extend his decade in power with a third consecutive term, especially after he opened a Hindu temple in northern Ayodhya city in January, which fulfilled his party’s long-held Hindu nationalist pledge. During the polls Modi escalated polarizing rhetoric in incendiary speeches that targeted the country’s Muslim minority.

India’s Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar said 642 million voters exercising their right in India was a world record.

``It’s a miracle,’ Kumar said.