India, the world’s largest democracy, is set to hold its general elections, with around 970 million registered voters heading to cast votes in an election spread over 44 days, the second longest in the country’s history. Here are some numbers which show just how big the Lok Sabha 2024 election is:
As many as 970 million registered voters will be heading to cast their votes in the upcoming elections to choose who will lead India for the next five years. Out of this huge number of voters, 18.2 million will vote for the first time.
The voting for the 18th Lok Sabha will be held in seven phases and the counting will take place on June 4. The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said the elections will start on April 19 and continue till June 1.
Lok Sabha Election 2024 will be the second longest in Indian history. The longest was the first parliamentary election held in 1951-52 which went on for four months.
The CEC said a total of 15 million polling staff and security personnel will be deployed for the Lok Sabha election with more than 5.5 million Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to handle voting at 1.05 million polling stations.
Out of the 543 seats in Lok Sabha, the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, 412 will be for general candidates, 84 are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) and 47 for Scheduled Tribe (ST) representatives.
The world’s highest polling station is in the picturesque Tashigang village of Lahaul and Spiti district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The polling booth is at the height of 15,256 feet.