Introduction
India, home to the world’s largest population, recently elected its 18th Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) after a six weeks-long electoral exercise. The process to elect 543 Members of Parliament (MPs) was stretched over seven phases, with different constituencies going to polls from April 19 to June 1, 2024. The results were announced on June 4, 2024. Though it failed to garner majority, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to secure a third consecutive term through the support of a coalition. The 44-day electoral exercise became the longest election in the world’s history.
Over 969 million people were eligible to vote, out of India’s total population of around 1.4 billion people.[1] This indicates that around 70 per cent of the country’s total population constitutes its electoral college. In the 2024 general elections, 66.61 per cent of the voters used their democratic right. The participation of women was also the highest as per the data available. Out of total 642 million votes cast, 312 million women exercised their right to vote.[2]
