India is set to hold the world’s largest general election in April. The election will start on April 19th and will go on for a total of 44 days till June 1st. The election is divided into 7 stages and the result of this election will be announced on June 4th.
This election is considered to be the world’s most expensive election and rightly so.
India’s most recent general election, in 2019, was already the most costly at the time by some estimates, with campaign spending conservatively put at $8.5bn.
This year this number is expected to be doubled.
“Over 26 million new voters have been included in the electoral roll, of which approximately 14 million are women, surpassing the newly enrolled men by over 15%,” the Election Commission said.
There are a total of around 970 million registered voters in India.
Here’s what makes this election so important.
During Lok Sabha elections, eligible voters across India cast their votes to elect members of Parliament (MPs) who will represent their respective constituencies in the Lok Sabha. The political party or coalition that wins the majority of seats in the Lok Sabha forms the government, and the leader of the majority party becomes the Prime Minister of India.
In 2019, Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) led by India’s current Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi won a staggering 303 out of 543 seats. This year the party is targeting at least 370 seats.
If BJP wins this election, it’ll be their 3rd consecutive victory.
Since the 2019 general election, India has seen the economy strengthen, with Indian equity benchmarks hitting record highs. International Monetary Fund executive director Krishnamurthy Subramanian said earlier in March that India is “easily” the fastest-growing economy and is poised for 8% growth this year.
As the world’s most populous democracy, India is gearing up for this monumental election starting this month, the outcome of which will shape the trajectory of its economy moving forward.
