“Power to
the people.”
That’s
what democracy promises to deliver. The positives and negatives of this system
can be debated over and over again and we can end up in an endless loop of
discussions with no perfect alternative. That’s the brutal reality – there is
no perfect system and the same can be said of the current electoral process.
But, we have to make the best of what we have, quoting Winston Churchill here, "It has been said that democracy is the
worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."
India, the
behemoth of cross-culturalism, has been busy this week with one of its biggest
electoral activity in the recent past – General
Elections 2014.
I’ve
picked up some interesting facts and figures that’ll give you an astute picture
of how big the elections in India really are this time around.
· This process will see more than 814 million Indians voting in the
polls. That’s roughly 100 million more than the last general elections in 2009!
· 168 million, or about 20%, will be eligible to
vote for the first time.
· The election will cost about
$5 billion or 300 billion rupees!
· 919,000 polling stations have been set up with
approximately 3.6 million electronic voting machines.
The
logistics of the electoral process are mind-boggling. Man and machinery have
been in constant action to make this happen. 10 million people have been
working to make sure that every eligible
Indian voter makes it to the polling booth within 2 km’s of their residence.
Incredible, isn’t it?
Hope each one of my readers and followers went out to vote for their respective
candidates and parties. After all, your, mine and the country’s future depends
on the choices we have made this week!
Source
for all the amazing electoral facts:
Business Insider – 8 incredible facts about India’s massive elections.
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