India announced Sunday a general election to be held over nearly six weeks starting on April 11, when hundreds of millions voters will cast ballots in the world's biggest democracy.

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani held telephone conversations Saturday with the prime ministers of Pakistan and India, Imran Khan and Narendra Modi, respectively.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party is likely to lose two heartland states while a third is too close to call, exit polls showed on Friday in the final test of popularity before a national election due by May next year.

The Supreme Court outlawed the practice last year, but Modi's government wants to make it a non-bailable offence carrying a jail term of up to three years.

Narendra Modi told The Times of India in an interview published on Sunday that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government is committed to improving the lives of all citizens regardless of faith.

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi created a flutter in parliament on Friday, giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi a surprise hug during a heated debate and said he had nothing but love for his bitter political foe.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday just weeks after the pair agreed to open a new chapter in their relationship following a tense border standoff.

The NCR is a rapidly urbanising and polluted area around New Delhi that is one-third the size of New York state, but houses 2.5 times more people.

Large parts of Indian Kashmir closed down on Saturday to protest a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Muslim-majority region gripped by deadly new tensions and clashes with Pakistan.

A win in Karnataka would be regarded as a major boost for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of general elections scheduled in 2019.

Both Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have campaigned hard in Karnataka, a state of 66 million people with diverse constituencies.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has thrown himself into a campaign to win a tight state election this weekend and secure a beachhead in the south, ahead of his own re-election bid next year.