Logistical Marvel: Organizing India's Monumental Elections

India, a subcontinent rich in culture, history, contrast, and diversity nearly two dozen official languages, six main religions, and a lot of people 1.3 billion people, more than 17 percent of the world's population, all live in the United States, and every five years, India puts on what is often described as the greatest show on earth. In the upcoming 2024 election, nearly 900 million Indians 18 years of age and older will be eligible to vote. That's more ballots cast than the last seven U.S. presidential elections combined. In India's 2019 election, there were more than 8000 candidates from over 450 political parties vying for only 543 seats in the lower house of parliament, known as the Lok Sabha or the House of the People, as an additional two seats were nominated for the president from the Anglo-Indian community or those of mixed Indian and European descent.

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When you break down the numbers, it means that on average, each MP represents 1.5 million voters. Compare that to the much smaller population in the UK, which has 650 seats in parliament, meaning each MP represents about 72000 registered voters. We'll be using the map that shows where voting takes place in India's 29 states and seven union territories. The constituencies are based on how populated the region is; the bigger the state, the more seats it has. For example, Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state with 228.9 million people, has 80 constituencies, that shows where voting takes place in India's 29 states and seven union territories. The constituencies are based on how populated the region is; the bigger the state, the more seats it has. For example, Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state with 228.9 million people, has 80 constituencies, which in fact has an even higher population than all of Brazil.

India's federal electoral model follows a first-past-the-post system, and whichever party wins the majority seats gets to choose the prime minister, so setting aside the quality of India's democracy and the arguments about misrepresentation in a country marred with social, economic, and political issues, did you ever think how such a massiv electio logistically organised enter the election commission of India? Under India's constitutions, the independent body is given absolute power to supervise direct control and conduct the process.

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India's democracy came into existence in 1951 with its first general election, llowing even regardless of gender class, religion, occupation, wealth, or level of literacy to vote for the poor and the illiterate and "the illiterate people; they're also people, and they're equal citizens, so that's why we decided from day one that we would not leave any single person out of the of the election." Election arrangements begin year in advance, updating the electoral rolls, preparing the 3.6 million electronic voting machines, and hiring 11 million government workers to take on Election arrangements begin year in advance, updating the electoral rolls, preparing the 3.6 million electronic voting machines, and hiring 11 million government workers to take on election day, including 2.5 million security personnel.

From the mountain villages of himachal pradesh the deserts of rajasthan to the beach towns of kerala the rainforests of assam and everything in between which means all modes of transportation including elepants camels boats and planes are deployed reach even the most remote areas of the country in fact a polling booth is set up in the middle of a dense isolated jungle in gujarat every election years so a sole voter a temple priest can contribute to his country's political process this helps with voter turnout in 2019 it was over 66 percent in india there's no election day instead it's an election month voting takes place in multiple phases across the regions this allows for election and security resources to move around the country and gives the commission better control of what's going on at each police station security.

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Issues like physical threats and bribes are just some of the challenges the commission faces during the elections. We make what we call a vulnerability map for every village and every polling station area. Who are the criminals in the area? Has there been a history of booth capture in the past? We flag it as a suspicious area.

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