India Votes - Expose 1: The election in numbers

As the election process starts to take centre stage, I will be doing a series of reports on what’s happening in and around India as election fever takes charge of the world’s largest democracy.

 

Bangalore - Monday 13th April, 2009 - The BBC World Service - that great and trusted friend of the Brit abroad and most people that just need to know what’s happening anywhere else in the world – recently disappointed me when it gave only 2 minutes to an event that is quite clearly, very significant. When you consider that India is under threat from terrorists, has weakened relations with its neighbour Pakistan (which itself is in rather dire straits), and is a significant player in global politics, you would expect that any change on its political landscape would be of interest to all. But then maybe I’m biased because I have Indian heritage and I currently reside here. But even if that wasn’t the case, it has become surprising to me that most Western media agencies have tended to cut short on the Indian political debate. Yesterday I was flicking through the online editions of the New York Times, The Guardian, The Independent and the Daily Telegraph, and found that only one of these newspapers (The Independent) had decided to have a major feature article on the upcoming election.

If you didn’t already know, this week, the world’s largest democratic election exercise will take place in India, the world’s largest democracy. Spread out over five phases (due to the sheer electorate participation and size of the country), mid-May will see the announcement of a new government (one never knows), new Prime Minister (maybe), and new angle for Indian politics (hopefully).

Every election, my Indian colleagues and friends tell me, the same promises are made, the same mistakes made. But having lived here for 10 months, there is something uniquely different about this election. People want change, they want fresh blood, but above all, they want accountability. I guess the change in the wind came from the election of Barack Obama in the US Presidential elections. Indians, seeing an ethnic minority, black candidate take the top seat in the White House, have felt inspired that they too can see more change in their own country. The “change” that Indians want is quite diverse, but it’s clear that they want some form of change, as 41 million more electorate registrations have taken place since the 2004 election.

The election is very important in many respects, not only for the 1.5 billion Indians, but also for the world too. India has played a very important role in world politics, the South Asia region, and since the liberalisation of its economy to FDI (foreign direct investment) in the early 1990’s, its power as a major contributor to the G20 has been paramount.

But this election is fast becoming the most important election in the history of India’s 60 years of operation, not least because for the last 4 years, India has endured so many testing encounters that Nehra’s once famous “Tryst with Destiny”  seems to be reinventing itself all over again. When a country mad about cricket decides that it must cancel its national cricket league from taking place at the time of elections, one would know the importance placed behind this decision. The elections matter, and for the first time in Indian electoral history, everyone is taking notice.

In one month’s time, the most important decisions by the electorate will be presented before us all. May will be the month for India’s reawakening, India’s moment of change. For 1.5 billion Indians and the world, let’s hope its India’s finest hour.

The Election in Numbers

714,000,000 voters have registered

6,100,000 security and civil personnel are on election duty

828,804 polling booths

1 – the number of voters required for a 100 per cent turnout at a polling station inside Gujarat state’s Gir Lion sanctuary, which caters to a lone constituent

543 – seats in the lower house

131 seats reserved for tribals or lower caste candidates

5,180 metres – the elevation above sea level of India’s highest polling booth, Fastan Village (Jammu & Kashmir state, Ladakh region)

1,368,430 – electronic voting machines

157 years – age combined of the two main rivals for Prime Minister – Manmohan Singh (current PM) and LK Advani

100,000,000,000 Rupees – ($2bn) the number estimated to be the total cost of the 2009 election

2,500,000 Rupees – the legal limit allowed by individual candidates for campaigning

25,000,000,000 Rupees – the combined amount candidates will spend on illegal vote buying

200,000 Dollars – reportedly paid by the ruling Congress Party to use Oscar winning song Jai Ho, from Slumdog Millionaire, composed by AR Rahman, as their campaign song

2,000,000 bottles of indelible ink – will be used to mark voters fingers to prevent double voting

(source - courtesy of Al Jazeera English)

Stay tuned for "India Votes - Expose 2: What issues affect you", where Ravin will be talking to the electorate to find out what the issues will be on their minds when they vote, published online on Tuesday 4pm (GMT)

Get in touch - sampat.ravin@gmail.com