New Delhi, India (CNN) By the time Rahul Gandhi arrived at his election rally in New Delhi, the bare piece of land which is otherwise used during Indian festival celebrations resembled a dust bowl.

Dust hung heavy in the air on Thursday as thousands poured in to hear the promises of the president of India's main opposition Congress Party. Young boys draped in the standard Congress colors of orange, white and green -- which resemble the Indian flag -- shouted party slogans and waved huge flags.

Delhites will be casting their votes in the sixth and penultimate round of polling on May 12; with 900 million people eligible to cast ballots in India's general elections this year, voting takes place in stages over about five weeks.

Gandhi and his Congress Party are going head to head with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who's defending his prime ministership after a landslide win in 2014.

Modi and his BJP party have adopted the term Chowkidar, which means watchman, as a campaign identity, with its members using the word as a prefix to their names on social media profiles.

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