India, March 16 -- India will begin voting in phases starting April 19 to elect a new parliament, the country's election authority said on Saturday, the world's largest election in which nearly one billion people are eligible to cast ballots.

The election pits two-term strongman Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his regional allies against a bickering alliance of two dozen opposition parties, with surveys suggesting a comfortable win for Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).

A victory would make Modi, 73, only the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's independence hero and its first prime minister, to win a third straight term.

Modi and his party have been in campaign mode for months before the dates for...