900 million eligible voters!
The world largest exercise of democracy will commence on 11 April 2019 with over 900 million eligible voters at the 16th Lok Sabha. That is more people than the number of people residing all the countries in Europe combined!
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-542377606-58b197683df78cdcd8d627e0.jpg)
To accommodate the magnitude of expected voters, the democratic elections will be carried out in 7 phases. India has a population of 1.3 billion people and growing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is seeking reelection for another five-year term and has been running extensive political campaigns throughout the nation over the past months.
Named the most followed political leader on Instagram, PM Modi has used the promotion of a corruption free nation and has tapped into the aspirations of India’s younger demographics, leading to a landslide win for his party 5 years ago.
However, Since PM Modi took the office, violence by right-wing Hindu groups has increased. The ambitious PM Modi is focused on building India’s GDP to a double digit and has proven his capability as he has presided over rapid economic growth and large investments in infrastructure such as roads and airports.
The official results of the elections will be announced on 23 May 2019.
Source: CNN, Washington Post
