India 2014: The Mother of All Elections

India may not be the world’s oldest democracy but it is certainly the biggest. The next elections for its parliament will be the largest ever, with a total of 814 million people eligible to vote – 100 million more voters than the last elections five years ago. The Election Commission of India has the unenviable task of completing this process by May 16. Its first challenge was to find suitable dates for the polling to take place in a phased manner across 35 states and territories. In India, polling can occur on any day of the week, but a number of factors had to be taken into account (high school examination schedules, national and regional holidays and, importantly, crop harvesting) before selecting the polling dates. Polling for the 543-seat Lok Sabha (lower house) will take place in nine phases, starting on April 7 and concluding on May 12, with the counting of votes to follow on May 16 and the results announced the same day. Anyone over the age of 18 is eligible to vote. Voting is not compulsory and turnout in the past few elections has averaged about 59%.