Explainer | Why do India’s general elections take so long to complete?
- This year’s vote will take 44 days, with results due on June 4, but the duration has varied over the years from just four days to nearly four months
- Officials from the election commission, which oversees the vote, have to make sure there is a voting booth available within 2km of every voter
From April 19 to June 1, nearly 970 million Indians – or over 10 per cent of the global population – are eligible to vote in general elections. The mammoth exercise is the biggest anywhere in the world and will take 44 days before results are announced on June 4.
Most surveys predict Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party will win comfortably, cementing him as one of the country’s most popular and consequential leaders.
Why does it take so long?
Over the years, the duration of voting has wavered. It took nearly four months to complete the vote in India’s first elections in 1951-1952, after it gained independence from British rule, and just four days in 1980. In 2019, voting took 39 days, and this year’s election is the second longest.
The vote to choose 543 lawmakers to the lower house of parliament takes place over seven phases. India’s 28 states and eight federal territories will vote at different times. Each phase is one day, with the first kicking off April 19 and ending on June 1.
Making every vote count
The Election Commission of India, which oversees the vote, has to make sure there is a voting booth available within 2km (1.2 miles) of every voter.
“Election officials have to travel to great lengths to ensure that even a single voter can exercise their franchise,” said Chakshu Roy of PRS Legislative Research, an independent think tank.
Some 15 million election officials and security staff will traverse the country’s deserts and mountains – sometimes by boat, foot and even on horseback – to try to reach every voter.
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Officials also travelled to a village tucked away high up in the Himalayas in 2019 to install a booth at 15,256 feet (4,650 meters), the highest polling station anywhere in the world.
This time too, polling stations will be installed in remote places, including one inside a wildlife sanctuary in southern Kerala state and another in a shipping container in western Gujarat state.
‘Walk the extra mile’
Experts say a key reason behind the multiphase elections in India is about security.
Tens of thousands of federal security forces, who usually guard borders for instance, are freed up and deployed alongside state police to prevent violence and transport electoral officials and voting machines.
Deadly clashes involving supporters of rival political parties, particularly in the eastern state of West Bengal, had marred previous elections. But such violence has tapered over the years, thanks to heavy security, and voting has been relatively peaceful.
“Look at the geography of the country … there are rivers, mountains, snow, jungles … think of the security forces’ movements. They will have to travel through the length and breadth of the country,” Rajiv Kumar, the chief election commissioner, said on Saturday. “We will walk the extra mile so voters don’t have to.”