Six weeks, 969m voters, 2,600 parties: India elections get under way

NONGRIAT, India: India was preparing on Thursday for the world’s largest general election, as polling officers clambered up hills, travelled deep into areas riven by violent insurgencies and crossed rivers to reach millions of voters across the sprawling nation.

The first vote in the seven-phase election will be cast on Friday, with results set for June 4, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks set to win a historic third term in the face of a straggling opposition challenge.

The Election Commission has to set up more than 1 million polling stations for the nearly two-month duration, with 15 million officials and security personnel fanning out for the task.

“Whether the polling officers have to climb down mountains, go through rivers or fly by choppers, the Election Commission is doing its job to ensure that nobody misses out on their voting rights,” said W. Moning Belgit, one of its officials.

He was speaking after having led a small crew that trekked for hours on Thursday to reach 139 voters in a remote, hilly village in the eastern state of Meghalaya.

In Friday’s first phase of voting in 21 states and territories, as many as 102 constituencies will exercise the franchise, from a total of 543 in the lower house of parliament.