India holds first major state elections since pandemic

PATNA, India (AP) — Voting began Wednesday in India’s third-largest state of Bihar, the first major election in the country since the pandemic and a test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity as he faces criticism on many fronts. India has registered nearly 8 million confirmed coronavirus cases, behind only the United States, even as daily infections have fallen by about half and deaths by about a third in recent weeks. More than 120,010…