India’s mammoth elections: Nearly a billion voters, 44 polling days

Indian students participate in a workshop to educate first-time voters about the importance of voting in Chennai, India, on March 19, 2024. © R. Satish Babu, AFP

The 2024 Indian general election is a massive democratic exercise unmatched in scale globally and historically. Spanning more than six weeks, with an electorate of more than 970 million registered voters, elections in the country dubbed “the world’s largest democracy” are a logistical challenge involving colossal figures.