Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prime Ministeral candidate Narendra Modi arrives at the parade ground to attend an election rally in support of local candidates in Allahabad on May 4, 2014.
BJP's prime ministerial candidate
Narendra Modi urged voters to turn out in record numbers to throw the scandal-plagued Congress party from power as a bitter, marathon election campaign drew to a close.
Mr Modi made his final appeal to voters before the last round of voting on Monday in the world's biggest election.
"People are tired of false promises, corruption and the same old tape-recorded messages ridden with dynastic references only to hide one's own failure," Mr Modi said in a blog late Saturday. (
Read the full text of his blog here)
"They want a better tomorrow and NDA is the only alliance that can provide this change," Mr Modi said, referring to a BJP-led National Democratic Alliance coalition.
"I urge all those voting in the final phase to vote in record numbers, especially the youth," he said.
Politicians were barred from making speeches and taking to the hustings on Sunday, one day before 66 million (6.6 crore) people were eligible to cast their ballots in 41 seats in the final stage of voting. (
India Elections 2014: Full coverage)
Campaigning ended on Saturday in the five-week election that is likely to see Congress ousted from power after 10 years in charge. Opinion polls show the party will be served one of its worst results ever, and that the BJP, powered by Mr Modi, will get the maximum seats.
(
Last Phase of Lok Sabha Polls Tomorrow; All Eyes on Varanasi)
Counting and results are due to be announced on Friday.
Mr Modi, who has pledged development, investment and jobs to revive the struggling economy, sought to strike a note of unity in his last-ditch message to voters before the campaign ended.
"We can decide whether we want to fight each other or we want to unite to fight poverty? The former will lead us nowhere while the latter will take our nation to greater heights," he said in his blog.
The campaign has descended into bitter claims from Congress vice president
Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders that Mr Modi will spread divisions between the majority Hindu and minority Muslim communities if elected. Mr Gandhi, whose lacklustre leadership of the Congress campaign has drawn criticism, on Saturday warned that Mr Modi "only wants to divide people, make people fight each other".
Mr Modi, who is serving his fourth term as chief minister of Gujarat, is popular among business leaders and middle-class voters who are especially frustrated by the economic slowdown and a retinue of corruption scandals that took place on the watch of the Congress-led government.
His opponents have been urging voters to reject him, tagging him as a polarizing figure feared by Muslims on account of the communal riots that took place in Gujarat in 2002 soon after he came to power. A Supreme Court inquiry has said there is no evidence of his complicity in the violence, as alleged by some detractors and human rights activists.