[News Terms] India Begins 44-Day Voting for 'Lok Sabha' General Election

Voting from the 19th, Counting Starts June 4
968 Million Voters, Election Dates Vary by District

'Lok Sabha' is the lower house of the Indian Parliament, also known as the House of the People. It is composed of representatives directly elected from 29 states including Uttar Pradesh, and 8 union territories including the National Capital Territory of Delhi (New Delhi + Old Delhi).

The strength of the Lok Sabha is set at 552 members according to the Indian Constitution, of which 530 members are elected from the states and union territories. The remaining members, up to 20, are chosen by a separate election method prescribed by law to represent the Union Territories, and the President of India can nominate 2 members to represent Anglo-Indians.

On the 4th of last month, supporters of the ruling party in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at a public rally held in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.
[Photo by Chennai AFP/ Yonhap News]

The first Lok Sabha was inaugurated on April 17, 1952, following the first general elections held from October 25, 1951, to February 21, 1952. The 17th Lok Sabha was inaugurated on May 23, 2019, and currently, there are 543 members in the Lok Sabha. Shri Om Birla of the Bharatiya Janata Party serves as the Speaker. The leader of the Lok Sabha is Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister and head of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The general election starting on the 19th is to elect members of the 18th Lok Sabha. The eligibility to be a Lok Sabha member is a minimum age of 25 years, and the term is 5 years. In case of emergency or special measures, the term can be extended by one year, but under no circumstances can it exceed six months after the emergency is lifted.

India is a parliamentary system where the head of government is the Prime Minister. However, there is a ceremonial President. The President is elected indirectly for a 5-year term and can serve a maximum of two terms, totaling up to 10 years. The current 15th President of India is Droupadi Murmu, who took office on July 25, 2022. She is the second female president after Pratibha Patil, the 12th President, and previously served as the Governor of Jharkhand.

The upper house of the Indian Parliament is the 'Rajya Sabha', also called the Council of States or the House of Elders. The Rajya Sabha has 250 members, with the President of India nominating 12 experts in fields such as arts, literature, science, and social services. The remaining members are elected by the legislative bodies of the states.

William Ruto (right), President of Kenya, visited the Indian Presidential Palace in December last year and shook hands with Droupadi Murmu (center), President of India, while Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, watched nearby. Kenya and India share the common history of being former British colonies.
[Photo by Reuters/New Delhi, Yonhap News]

The term is 6 years, but approximately one-third of the members are re-elected every 2 years. The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body that continues sessions throughout the year and, unlike the Lok Sabha, cannot be dissolved. The Rajya Sabha has equal legislative power with the Lok Sabha, but the Lok Sabha has precedence over budget bills. The Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha is Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, former Governor of West Bengal, who also serves as the Vice President of India.

From the 19th, an unprecedentedly massive Lok Sabha general election will be held across India for 44 days. India’s total area is over 3,287,200 km², more than 14 times the size of the Korean Peninsula, with a population of approximately 1.428 billion, the largest in the world. The number of eligible voters in this election is about 968 million, with approximately 490 million men and 470 million women. Due to the enormous number of voters, voting cannot be conducted all at once, so India is divided into 7 zones, each with different election dates.

The Election Commission of India has installed 5.5 million electronic voting machines at over 1 million polling stations nationwide to ensure that every household can vote within 2 km. A total of 15 million election officials and security personnel have been mobilized, and the estimated cost of this election is 14.4 billion USD (approximately 19.9 trillion KRW). Vote counting will begin on June 4.