THE NEWS FREEDOM
NEW DELHI, APRIL 18
India gears up for the commencement of the world’s largest elections, starting on Friday and spanning until June 1. With a staggering 1 billion eligible voters set to participate in the Lok Sabha elections, the process unfolds over seven phases across the vast nation. This phased approach aims to bolster security measures at polling booths nationwide. Vote counting is scheduled for June 4, following polling dates on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. The use of electronic voting machines, introduced in India in 1982 and widely adopted since the early 2000s, simplifies the voting process for citizens.
The current elections decide the fate of 543 contested seats in the Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of parliament, each with a five-year term. A party or coalition must secure a simple majority of 272 seats to govern. In the previous election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 303 seats, while the main opposition, the Indian National Congress (INC), won 52 seats.
The upcoming elections kick off the celebration of democracy as voters in 102 Lok Sabha constituencies across 21 states and Union Territories exercise their voting rights. Notable constituencies in the April 19 phase include 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, 12 in Rajasthan, and 8 in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, in particular, anticipates significant contestation with 8 seats, including Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Rampur, and Moradabad, up for voting.
According to data from the Election Commission, a total of 968 million voters, comprising 497 million males and 471 million females, along with 8.84 million persons with disabilities, 48,000 transgender voters, and 1.91 million service electors, are eligible to participate in the Lok Sabha elections across all phases.
The electoral process spans 44 days, exceeding the duration of India’s previous election in 2019, which lasted 39 days. This year’s elections rank as the second longest in India’s history, following the inaugural exercise after independence in 1947, which extended over four months. Spread across seven voting days, the first phase on Friday witnesses voters casting their ballots in 102 constituencies nationwide, with the final polling date set for June 1, covering 57 seats, and all votes tallied on June 4.
India’s extensive size and electorate contribute to the prolonged duration of the general election. With an eligible voter population of 968.6 million, India’s electorate surpasses the European Union’s population of 448 million. Additionally, with an estimated population exceeding 1.4 billion, India surpassed China last year to become the world’s most populous country.
To ensure free, fair, and fearless elections, over 300,000 federal security personnel support state-controlled police forces. The intervals between voting phases enable these personnel to traverse the country, often utilizing rail transport. Their duties include safeguarding election officials during the transportation of voting machines and ensuring the security of these devices until the day of counting, thereby upholding the integrity of the electoral process.