India's general elections will take place from April 19 to June 1, spread over seven phases to get nearly a billion Indians out to vote. These 18th legislative elections in the young Indian republic are an exercise on the scale of the country, one of the most populous in the world. Some 970 million voters will be called to the polls in succession, depending on their region, to elect the 543 members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament. "This is the biggest peacetime logistical exercise in the world," commented Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.
It will mobilize 15 million electoral agents to set up 1 million polling stations and transport electronic machines to the most remote areas, as the law stipulates that voters must not be more than 2 kilometers from a polling booth. Results will be announced on June 4.
Beyond the logistics, the stakes of these elections are considerable. After 10 years in power, 73-year-old Narendra Modi wants to win not only a third term, but also a qualified majority. The opposition fears that he wants to amend the 1950 Constitution and introduce a different regime from the one bequeathed by the founders after independence. Together with his allies, the incumbent Indian prime minister has set himself a threshold of 400 MPs, compared with 350 elected in 2019, which would enable him to achieve the two-thirds majority required to amend the Constitution. His ambitions are further fueling doubts about the transparency of the elections and the body responsible for organizing them.
The Election Commission was late in announcing the dates of the polls, after last-minute maneuvering over the composition of this independent body, one of the pillars of Indian democracy, which guarantees the smooth running of the ballot and fairness between candidates. Two of the three members of the commission were replaced at the last minute. The last member gave no explanation. The Congress, the main opposition party, accuses the government of "systematically decimating independent institutions." The two new entrants were appointed under a controversial law, passed by Parliament in December 2023, which gives the government an advantage in choosing commissioners.
The campaign opens in the midst of the scandal surrounding the "electoral bonds" system set up by Modi in 2017 to finance political parties. Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on February 15, the scheme enabled companies to anonymously purchase unlimited securities from the State Bank of India, which the bank then paid out to the beneficiaries. The high court ruled that the source and other details of this funding were concealed from the public, in violation of voters' fundamental right to information and their right to make an informed choice before casting their vote.
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