New Delhi, June 3 (EFE).- The Election Commission of India (ECI) revealed on Monday that 642 million of the nearly 970 million eligible voters took part in the recently concluded general elections.
The results of the elections, which ended on Saturday after 44 days, are expected on Tuesday.
“We have created a world record of 642 million proud Indian voters. This is a historic moment for all of us,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference.
The official, responsible for ensuring the smooth conduct of the marathon elections, said that 312 of the 642 million voters were women, which he claimed was more than in 2019, both in total and percentage terms.
Kumar underlined that this time there were fewer incidents of violence, with only 39 re-polls taking place against 540 in the 2019 general elections.
ECI officials are to begin counting the votes on electronic voting machines on Tuesday at 8am local time, with district-to-district counting running simultaneously and without a deadline.
The results are expected to be released on the same day, or at least a clear indication of who may have a majority in the Lower House of Parliament, or Lok Sabha.
The seven-phase general elections began last Apr. 19 and concluded on June 1, posing a logistical challenge for the ECI in carrying out what is dubbed as the world’s largest democratic exercise in a country with 1.4 billion inhabitants.
With a day to go before the counting of the votes, most exit polls indicate an outright victory for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, the opposition coalition led by the Indian National Congress have expressed skepticism about these surveys. EFE
daa/sc
