<\/p>\n
Nearly a billion people will be eligible to vote in India’s general elections, to be held over almost seven weeks from April 19, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek a record-equalling third straight term.<\/p>\n
The elections for 543 seats in India’s Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament, will run through June 4, a mammoth exercise spanning the country’s varied terrain. More than 2,400 political parties are expected to put up candidates.<\/p>\n
Here are some facts about India’s general elections, the world’s largest democratic exercise.<\/p>\n
Almost 970 million Indians are registered to vote at over a million polling stations across the country. India’s election commission will rope in nearly 15 million government employees, many of them teachers and junior workers, to help conduct the election.<\/p>\n
The election will be held in seven phases, with votes to be counted and results expected on June 4 and the entire election process completed by June 6.<\/p>\n
Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the dominant political group, is widely expected to win more than the required 272 seats needed for a simple majority.<\/p>\n
Modi predicts the BJP will win 370 seats and its National Democratic Alliance more than 400, aiming for a four-decade high.<\/p>\n
His main opposition, the Congress party, which has ruled India for much of its time since independence in 1947, formed a 28-party alliance called INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) to jointly fight the BJP. It has been riven by differences over giving up seats to field common candidates.<\/p>\n
India uses electronic voting machines, introduced in 1982, and 5.5 million such machines will be used in this election. Electors cast their votes by pressing a button next to a candidate\u2019s name and party symbol.<\/p>\n
Election Commission of India guidelines say every voter should be within 2 km (1.2 miles) of a polling station, so polling officials often must trek for days or climb hills to reach remote locations in hilly areas. <\/p>\n
In one case, that means travelling through a jungle in the western state of Gujarat so a lone voter could cast his vote in a polling booth.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nearly a billion people will be eligible to vote in India’s general elections, to be held over almost seven weeks from April 19, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek a record-equalling third straight term. The elections for 543 seats in India’s Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament, will run through June 4, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/03\/1618095867b7128.jpg?r=181001","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t