Modi’s face is emblazoned on T-shirts, caps, campaign hoardings and car stickers. He is everywhere, except in body - BJP workers are not sure whether he will find time to campaign in the seat. “Modi is not contesting here. But he’s larger than life, and a vote for me is also a vote for Modi,” says Bhatt, an indefatigable campaigner. In 2014, Modi won Vadodara by a mammoth 570,128 votes. He vacated Vadodara after winning a second seat in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh (candidates can stand for more than one seat in Indian elections, and choose which one to take up if successful). Bhatt, a former municipal councillor and a deputy mayor, swept to victory in the by-election a few months later.

Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt is the BJP candidate in Vadodara

In this BJP heartland, it is hardly a fight. The party has been in power here since 1996, and the opposition these days is pretty much invisible. “This election is not about my winning, but the margin of victory. I am aiming to win by at least 600,000 votes and set a new record in Gujarat,” says Bhatt. Two months later, she will go on to win a convincing victory. “Everything we do here is finally dedicated to Narendra bhai [brother]. Votes here are given to Modi. Gujarat is his birthplace and Vadodara is his workplace.”

Surprisingly little is known about the man who became India’s most powerful politician. Modi was born the son of a tea-stall owner in Vadnagar, a grubby town some 200km (124 miles) from Vadodara. According to one biographer, Modi did not have any special bond with either family or friends in Vadnagar and “virtually abandoned” the place in his youth. As a teenager he was married in a traditional ceremony - a fact only confirmed in 2014 when he filed his election nomination papers. He lived with his wife, Jashodaben, for just three years. Early in his life, Modi joined the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), widely regarded as the parent organisation of the BJP, and became a full-time worker.

RSS volunteers on parade in Bhopal, 2015

The RSS (which translates as National Volunteer Corps) was founded in 1925 and believes in the unity and protection of India’s majority Hindus. The organisation does not present itself as primarily political - its mission statement “emphasises culture and patriotism”, according to one study. Nevertheless, the RSS has been the mainstay of Hindu nationalism since the days of British rule. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 by a former member. Today, the RSS has some 6,000 full-time workers. Some two million people participate in nearly 80,000 branches (known as shakhas) across India.

The BJP is a political affiliate of the RSS. It believes in Hindutva, an ideology seeking to establish the supremacy of the Hindus and the Hindu way of life. During his early days with the RSS, say BJP workers, Modi lived for extended periods of time in Vadodara, sharing an austere one-bedroom RSS-owned property. “He would sometimes go around on a bike, meeting workers. He knows every street here, and he still has friends in the city,” says one party official.

Modi earned his spurs as a business-friendly, efficient chief minister during the 13 years he ruled Gujarat before moving to Delhi in 2014. He was credited with making Gujarat an economic powerhouse, although the success of so-called “Modinomics” is a subject of keen debate among economists. Modi was also accused of not doing enough to stop religious riots in 2002 when more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. The violence was sparked by a train fire in the town of Godhra in which 60 Hindu pilgrims died. The fire was widely blamed on Muslim arsonists.

More than 1,000 people were killed in the Gujarat riots of 2002

Modi was named leader of the BJP in 2013. A year later he became prime minister. His supporters see him as a hard-working, no-nonsense doer who does not “pamper the minorities”, alluding mainly to India’s 170 million Muslims. They say he is a self-made man with humble roots, and contrast him with what they describe as the entitled and privileged Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, which has led the main opposition Congress party and ruled India for nearly half a century.

Priyanka Gandhi is the latest member of her family to become involved in the Congress party