4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote?

y matter and who can vote? - BBC News

Home News Sport Weather

Home Israel-Gaza war Cost of Living War in Ukraine Climate UK World More

Business Politics Culture

Asia China India

India election 2024: When are

they, why do they matter and
who can vote?
18 hours ago

India elections 2024

GETTY IMAGES

Prime
Let usMinister
knowNarendra Modi is hoping
We use cookiestotowin a third
give term
you the in office
best online experience. Yes, I agree
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you agree to No, take me to
India's 2024 general election - to be held over six weeks between 19 April
cookies settings
and 1 June - will be the biggest the world has ever seen.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 1/11
4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote? - BBC News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hoping to win a third successive term, but
opposition parties say Indians face the loss of many freedoms if he stays in
power.

Which parties are standing against

Narendra Modi's BJP?
Recent opinion polls suggest Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its
allies will win the election for the Lok Sabha - the lower chamber of India's
parliament - for a third time running.

The Lok Sabha chooses the prime minister, who in turns chooses government
ministers.

In the 2019 election the BJP won 303 seats, and the coalition of parties it is in,
the National Democratic Alliance, took 352 seats overall.

The Hindu foot soldier who became prime minister

The main challenge in 2024 comes from a coalition of political parties headed
by the Indian National Congress, the biggest opposition party.

More than two dozen parties have joined it to form the Indian National
Let us know Inclusive
Developmental We use cookies to give you the best online experience.
Alliance ("India" for short).
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you agree to No, take me to
Key politicians
cookies in this group include Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, as
settings
well as siblings Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, whose father was the former prime
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 2/11
4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote? - BBC News

minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Their mother, Sonia Gandhi, is a powerful opposition leader but is not

expected to campaign as hard as she did in 2019.

Delhi's governing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is part of the coalition, along with
several important regional parties.

Three AAP leaders have been recently arrested, accused of corruption. The
party accuses Mr Modi and the BJP of conducting a political vendetta against
it, which the BJP denies.

'Electoral autocracy': The downgrading of India's democracy

India opposition leader Kejriwal to remain in jail

India's opposition challenge to Modi may be imploding

What are the key issues and why does

the India general election matter?
Mr Modi can claim India's global standing has risen thanks to its growing
economy and closer relations with the US, which wants India to be its ally
against China.

He has recently introduced generous welfare schemes, such as providing free

grain to 800 million of India's poorest, and a monthly stipend of 1,250 rupees
($16; £12) to women from low-income families.

Let us know We use cookies to give you the best online experience.
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you agree to No, take me to
cookies
GETTY IMAGES settings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 3/11
4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote? - BBC News

Rahul Gandhi is one of the leaders of the "India" coalition of parties challenging the BJP

In its manifesto Congress argues that unemployment remains high, especially

for young people.

And it promises increased welfare payments for women, three million extra
government jobs and more apprenticeships for college leavers.

It also promises that it will stop India's "slide into autocracy".

Minority groups say that they often face discrimination and attacks, and have
been forced to live as "second-class" citizens under Mr Modi's rule - an
allegation the BJP denies.

The campaign group for international civil liberties, Freedom House, says that
journalists and others who question the BJP government have increasingly
been harassed. It classifies India as only "partly free".

BBC splits news operation in India

'Electoral autocracy': The downgrading of India's democracy

What are the dates of the polling

days, and why does voting take so
long?
Voting is taking place in different parts of India on seven polling days: 19 April,
26 April, 7 May, 13 May, 20 May, 25 May and 1 June.

The results will be announced on 4 June.

Let us know We use cookies to give you the best online experience.
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you agree to No, take me to
cookies settings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 4/11
4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote? - BBC News

GETTY IMAGES

Electronic voting machines will be used across the country

Voting is staggered to enable security staff to guard polling stations across

the country.

Millions of electronic voting machines will be used, which let people choose
between candidates or pick "none of the above".

Who can vote in elections for the Lok

Sabha?
India is the world's most populous country, with 1.4 billion inhabitants, and
969 million of them can vote in this year's election - roughly one in eight of the
global population.

Voters must be Indian citizens, 18 years of age or older and be on the

electoral register. They also need valid voter ID cards.

Let us know We use cookies to give you the best online experience.
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you agree to No, take me to
cookies settings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 5/11
4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote? - BBC News

GETTY IMAGES

969 million people are eligible to vote in India's 2024 general election

The 13.4 million Indian citizens who live abroad can also vote, but must
register and return to India to do so.

There are 543 elected MPs in the Lok Sabha, and an individual party or
coalition needs at least 272 seats to form a majority to govern.

Members of the Lok Sabha are elected for a five-year term to represent a
single constituency, the winner being the candidate with the most votes.

There are 131 seats reserved for MPs from so-called "scheduled castes" and
"scheduled tribes". These are groups officially recognised as disadvantaged,
and make up about a quarter of India's population.

India has also passed a law to allocate a third of the seats to women, but this
will not come into force for several years.

How are all the votes collected across

India?

Let us know We use cookies to give you the best online experience.
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you agree to No, take me to
cookies settings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 6/11
4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote? - BBC News

States with the most seats in the Lok Sabha

Let us know We use cookies to give you the best online experience.
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you agree to No, take me to
cookies settings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 7/11
4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote? - BBC News

India is 1.3 million sq miles (3.3 million sq km) in area, and electoral rules say
there must be a polling booth close to every human habitation.

The 2019 elections had a polling booth in a remote forest area of the Gir
Source:
National Election
Park Commission
in Gujarat for the one of
manIndia
living there.

In the 2024 elections, officials will trek 24 miles (39km) to a village in

Arunachal Pradesh state in north-east India, to collect the vote of a single
female voter.

Related Topics

India elections 2024 Narendra Modi India

Top Stories
LIVE I didn't realise Nine-year-olds added Police investigate
Post Office brought its to malicious Angela Rayner over
own prosecutions, WhatsApp groups electoral law claims
says ex-boss 37 minutes ago 38 minutes ago

Features

Suicide is on the rise 'I survived the ferry Weekly quiz: How did
for young Americans. disaster - but lost 17 of 'Hardest Geezer'
Why? my family' celebrate the end of
his Africa run?

Let us know We use cookies to give you the best online experience.
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you agree to No, take me to
cookies settings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 8/11
4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote? - BBC News

The Papers: Trident What is GDP and how Pinstickers' guide to

'safe in Labour's does it affect me? the Grand National
hands' and OJ dead at
76 Sport

Sum 41's 'energy and Nazanin: 'Freedom is A simple guide to

attitude' inspires new sweet... but it's not India's general
bands easy' election

Elsewhere on the BBC

Let's banish Why did Vine end up Remembering an

complicated toilet toast? alternative rock
flushes Sean Farrington investigates legend
Paul Merton talks to Hannah what happened to the first 6 Music reflects the influences
Fry to find out what she would ever video app sensation and work of Kurt Cobain, 30
send to Room 101 years after his passing

Sounds Sounds Sounds

The man who

entertained the UK for
eight decades
Political writer and
broadcaster Steve Richards
Let us know
reminisces
We use cookies to give you the best online experience.
on the genius of
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you
Bruceagree
Forsythto No, take me to
cookies settings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 9/11
4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote? - BBC News

Sounds

Most Read

1 Police investigate Angela

Rayner 2 Paxman: Parkinson's
makes you wish you'd not
been born

3 Sir Ian McKellen on taking

role he always said no to 4 Brightest-ever explosion's
mystery of missing gold

5 Unpaid carers shocked at

having to repay thousands 6 Concerns over TV show
farm tenancy

7 Nine-year-olds added to
malicious WhatsApp 8 Harry Kane says children
'fine' after car crash
groups

9 Trident 'safe in Labour's

hands' and OJ dead at 76 10 The $2bn dirty-money case
that rocked Singapore

BBC News Services

On your mobile On smart speakers

Get news alerts Contact BBC News

Films on BBC iPlayer

Let us know We use cookies to give you the best online experience.
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you agree to No, take me to
cookies settings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 10/11
4/12/24, 6:30 AM India election 2024: When are they, why do they matter and who can vote? - BBC News

Darkly comic scandal with Margot Ridley Scott’s sci-fi adventure

Robbie

I, TONYA THE MARTIAN

Award-winning musical magic Christopher Nolan's wartime

masterpiece

LA LA LAND DUNKIRK

Home Weather CBBC Bitesize Local

News iPlayer CBeebies Arts Three

Sport Sounds Food Taster

Terms of Use About the BBC Privacy Policy Cookies Accessibility Help Parental Guidance

Contact the BBC Make an editorial complaint Get Personalised Newsletters

Why you can trust the BBC

© 2024 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external
linking.

Let us know We use cookies to give you the best online experience.
Please let us know if you agree to all of these cookies.
you agree to No, take me to
cookies settings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68678594 11/11