Six weeks, 969 million voters, 2,600 parties: India’s mammoth election explained

The Guardian ^ | 18th April 2024 | Hannah Ellis-Petersen

[Cronos]

What is happening? India, home to more than 1.4 billion people, will begin its mammoth election on 19 April. The country prides itself on the scale of its parliamentary elections, ensuring that even those in the remotest corners and highest peaks of the vast country are able to cast their vote. Voting machines in such less accessible parts are carried on the backs of horses and elephants and for some, polling booths can be reached only by boat. India also boasts the world’s highest polling booth, 15,256ft (4,650 metres) up in the Himalayan mountains.

Due to its colossal geography, voting is not on a single day but is instead split into seven phases across the different states, lasting nearly six weeks in total. It will take place using electronic machines in more than a million polling booths, and the Election Commission of India will deploy 15 million people to oversee the operation. Voting will close on 1 June and results will finally be counted and declared on 4 June.

India’s elections are also some of the most expensive in the world. This year, the cost is expected to hit 1.2tn rupees (£12bn), which is almost double what was spent in the 2019 elections.

Why does it matter? This time round India will have 969 million eligible voters – more than 10% of the world’s population. They represent the largest electorate anywhere and will include 18 million first-time voters.

More than 2,600 political parties are registered in this election. According to most analysts and political polling, the frontrunner is India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) which has been in power since 2014 and is seeking a third term.

[Cronos]

The Hindu nationalist policies of Modi and the BJP government are widely seen to have reshaped the political and cultural landscape of the country over the past decade, shifting it away from the secularism enshrined in the constitution – which guarantees equality for all religions – and towards Hindu majoritarian rule.

Modi’s BJP already commands a strong parliamentary majority after it swept the 2019 election, winning 303 seats, with votes for its coalition partners taking the total to 352. This time, the party is so confident of victory that it is aiming for the BJP-led alliance to win more than 400 seats in the 543-seat parliament.

[RandFan]

And some how they do it properly, cleanly and with paper ballots ...

[RandFan]

Oh no it says they’re now using electronic voting machines ❌

[Cowgirl of Justice]

AND ONE VOTE PER PERSON WITH IDENTIFICATION.

[jerod]

Yup... No ‘voting machines’ required, electronic or otherwise. You mark your X on a ballot and a scrutineer from each political party witnesses your vote being counted.

The same method used in England, India, Canada, Australia and many other commonwealth countries for hundreds of years... The results may not always be desirable, but the voting method is sound.

[RandFan]

Yes and ID is NOT controversial to vote with in these countries.

[jerod]

It’s required in Canada and the UK, and likely in India too.

[RandFan]

Yes and in the UK each district is counted and the result returned within a 6-7 hours depending on how rural the area is.

The 2020 U.S. election was a disgrace to anyone watching it was very strange and a clear aberration.

[RandFan]

Actually with the UK election due July 4 Freepers will see for themselves how quicky and efficiently it’s done with paper ballots and voter ID (crickets from media)

[jerod]

The Democrat party in the United States has always been about suppressing the vote... After the Civil war they controlled the southern States because most white southerners hated the Republicans for freeing their slaves, with most black southerners voting Republican... To suppress the Republican vote they introduced Poll taxes... Making people pay for the right to vote. Then they came up with manual voting machines, another way of controlling the vote... And now they have computerized voting machines... Yet another way to control the vote.

If people actually just marked and X on a piece of paper and those paper ballots were counted, the Democrats would likely never win an election in the states.

[Iron Munro]

Just to lend some perspective:

1. - India has 4 times the population of the USA living in 1/3 the land area

2. - India has a population greater than 1.3 billion versus an estimated 330 million in the USA

3. - The USA encompasses 3.787 million square miles versus 1.269 square miles for India

4. - India has a population density of more than 1,200 people per square mile
(about the same as the state of New Jersey, the most dense in the USA)

5. - The USA has a population density of about 94 people per square mile

6.- The USA has one city (New York City) with a population of 8 million or more

7 India has 8 cities with a population of 8 million or more.

8. - India's 10 largest cities:

• New Delhi - 34 Million
• Mumbai - 22 Million
• Kolkata - 16 Million
• Bengaluru - 14 Million
• Chennai - 12 Million
• Hyderabad - 11 Million
• Ahmadabad - 9 Million
• Surat - 8 Million
• Pune - 7 Million
• Jaipur - 4 Million

[libh8er]

“ Hindu nationalist policies of Modi”

What are you ? Some leftist..using the language of the Left ? Or maybe you are a Muslim. What’s wrong with “Hindu Nationalism” ? India is a Hindu majority country. Hinduism is their dominant religion (>85 %). The country was founded on Hinduism. For centuries they fought off Islamic invaders who plundered, pillaged, annexed and raped Hindu women. Following independence and their split from what’s now Pakistan they were further subject to decades of Islamic terrorism. Not to mention the illegal invasion of millions of Muslims from neighboring Bangladesh. Finally they have a gutsy leader standing up for the Hindu majority and the worldwide globalist leftist media dubs him “Hindu Nationalist”. If you have a problem with Modi’s “Hindu Nationalism “ take your complaints to DU.

[IndianChief]

The Hindu nationalist policies of Modi and the BJP government are widely seen to have ...... shifting it away from the secularism enshrined in the constitution – which guarantees equality for all religions

Actually the original copies of the Constitution of India was freely illustrated with images depicting the Ramayana. The words "secular,socialist" were illegally added by Indira gandhi when she illegally declared an Emergency,suspended the Constitution and arrested all the Opposition leaders she could, driving the rest underground. So the vote on the Constitutional amendments are illegal and void. But no political party has the guts so far to challenge it in the Supreme Court.

The MSM feeds the rubbish that Muslims are under some kind of threat.Come to India and see the reality. Yes many of their illegal activities have been curbed and the mafia dons arrested/killed. But they are/were criminals.The MSM lionises them.