Making sense of politics in India – the world’s largest democracy
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 in April/June 2024, some 969 million citizens were eligible to vote and some 642 million did so. Electors had a choice of candidates from some 2,600 political parties.
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 from 19 April to 1 June 2024 in seven phases with all votes counted on a single day: 4 June 2024. Almost 4 million staff were deployed to run the election. Administrative and security considerations meant that electoral staff and soldiers were moved around the country as the different voting phases took place.
What was the result and how does it matter? You can check out my short guide to the Indian political system