India’s hundreds of millions of voters have started visiting polling stations on Monday, to take part in the country’s largest national election. This year, India has around 815 million eligible voters, wherein more than 100 million of them are first-time voters. And because of the huge population in the country, every national election is being considered as the world’s biggest exercise in democracy. Despite the difficulties in logistics, Indian election officials say that they are expecting a turnout of about 65 percent.
This is the third fully electronic election for the country, with voters only needing to push a button on huge electronic voting machines to cast their votes, instead of the traditional slipping of ballots on ballot boxes. These machines are being well-guarded in secured rooms with CCTV running 24 hours a day. The election will last until May 12, which is more than 5 weeks from now, and the final results will be announced on May 16.
India has currently 930,000 voting stations, with 543 seats in the country’s lower house at stake as well as the next prime minister. The two leading political parties are Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the opposition party led by their controversial candidate, Narendra Modi. In recent surveys, Modi has been leading against Rahul Gandhi of Congress, in which its United Progressive Alliance coalition has been ruling the country for more than a decade.
For Mr. Modi and his party, the possibilities of winning many seats in the congress are high as the present administration faces various controversies of alleged corruption, particularly in coal industries and telecommunication services. Mr. Modi is widely known in his campaign to improve the economy of India, with the country’s GDP growth reportedly climbing very slow under the present administration.
Nonetheless, Modi is also known for being a Hindu hard-liner. Back in 2002, a series of religious riots occurred in the state of Gujarat where thousands of Muslims families left their homes. Mr. Modi, who was then India’s nationalist chief minister, has publicly opposed the setting up of relief camps for them, saying that these camps would only serve as “baby-making factories” for the Muslims. India has a current population of nearly 1.2 billion, with 80 percent Indians and around 13 percent Muslims.
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