The World's Largest Democracy Starting General Elections on the 19th of Next Month

India, 1 Billion Registered Voters

India, the world's largest democracy, will begin its general election on the 19th of next month.

The Election Commission of India announced in a briefing on the 16th (local time) that the general election to elect 543 members of the Lok Sabha, the federal lower house with a five-year term, will be held in seven phases over six weeks starting from the 19th of next month. This election is being held as the term of the Lok Sabha ends on June 16. The election results will be announced on June 4. Approximately 970 million registered voters will cast their votes at about 1.05 million polling stations.

Chairman Rajiv Kumar said, "The number of registered voters is greater than the combined voters of several continents."

About 18 million voters are participating in the election for the first time, and voters aged 20 to 29 number approximately 190 million.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In four states?Andhra Pradesh in the south, Odisha in the east, and Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast?where the terms also end in the same month, state assembly elections will be held at different times during the general election period.

The ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is aiming for a third consecutive victory in this general election. Modi, who became Prime Minister in 2014, is seeking a third term. If Modi succeeds in securing a third term, he will become the first person since Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister, to serve three consecutive terms.

In this general election, Modi has set a goal for the BJP to secure 370 seats and for the BJP-led political alliance, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), to secure 400 seats.