The European Union is a large democratic entity – but not the largest. That would be India.

India – with a population of 1.3 billion and an electorate of around 900 million – is the world’s largest democracy and, for all its faults and flaws, this democratic system stands in marked contrast to the democratic failures of Pakistan and Bangladesh which were part of India until 1947.

Elections in a country of the size and complexity of India are huge and difficult affairs. The Indian Constitution requires that voters do not have to travel more than 2 km (1.2 miles) from their homes to vote. At the recent election, some 900 million citizens were eligible to vote and around 600 million did so.

There is no way that such a poll can be conducted on a single day and in fact the last election to the Lok Sabha took place over a period of almost six weeks, starting on 11 April 2019 and finishing on 19 May 2019 with all votes counted on a single day: 23 May 2019. The election was conducted in seven separate phases and almost 4 million staff were deployed to run them.

How is power allocated in the Indian political system? How are elections to the parliament in India structured? What was the result in the recent general election? You’ll find all the answers in my updated short guide to the Indian political system.


 




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