By Hugo Barcia
Bikaner, India, Apr 18 (EFE).- India will kick off its quinquennial general elections on Friday, engaging nearly 970 million eligible voters over the next month and a half, marking the largest democratic spectacle globally.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, buoyed by his Hindu nationalistic image, seeks a historic third consecutive term to lead the world’s most populous country and one of the fastest-growing economies.
Millions of officials and security forces personnel have been deployed in 102 constituencies across the country that will vote on Friday in the first of the seven-phase elections for 543 parliamentary sets.
In the desert city of Bikaner, located in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, soaring temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius pose no obstacle to enthusiastic voters.
Young men and women stationed around a local market asserted their intention to participate in “the festival of democracy” on Friday.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) estimates deploying approximately 15 million poll workers nationwide to oversee the smooth functioning of more than six weeks of a colossal democratic process.
Over 1.8 million polling officials will cater to more than 166 million voters across 187 lakh polling stations on Friday, according to the election commission. Some 1625 candidates, including 134 women, are in the fray, vying for 102 parliamentary constituencies.
The poll regulator said it used 41 helicopters, 84 special trains, and nearly 100,000 vehicles to ferry polling and security personnel for the first phase of the voting.
Polls forecast that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Modi, will secure a parliamentary majority.
In Bikaner alone, a city with just over half a million inhabitants, nearly 10,000 workers from the election body visited the two main university faculties to gather all necessary materials before proceeding to polling stations in the district.
“The officials do not know where they are going to go until they arrive here and are deployed randomly,” poll official Saurabh Bhagat told EFE.
The suspense surrounding their duty venues leads to large crowds of workers searching for their names on two pages to ascertain their assigned destinations and which bus they should board to reach them.
Throughout the six-week process, voters will cast their ballots at approximately 1.1 million polling stations.
Some of these stations are located in remote areas, necessitating the use of animals, boats, and helicopters for access.
“The challenge is reaching remote areas, providing drinking water, installing bathrooms at polling stations, transporting elderly people and people with disabilities,” Rajasthan’s electoral director Rajeev Gupta told EFE.
The initiative aligns with the principle of ‘No Voter Left Behind’ election regulations, which stipulate that voters must have a ballot box within two kilometers of their residence.
In certain instances, officials even visit private homes to facilitate voting for people with reduced mobility. EFE
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