By The Associated Press: With more than 800 million eligible voters and close to a million polling stations across the country, everything about India's general elections promises to be huge. For six weeks beginning Monday, Indians will head to the polls in nine phases for parliamentary elections in the world's biggest democracy.
Some of the mind-boggling numbers:
- 1.2 billion: India's population.
- 814.5 million: Eligible voters.
- 543: Constituencies where elections are being held.
- 11 million: Election officials, paramilitary officers and police who will preside over the voting process.
- 1.4 million: Electronic voting machines set up for the election.
- $600 million: What the government will spend to conduct the election.
- $72,800 to $113,250: What each political candidate is allowed to spend on his or her election campaign.
- 935,000: Polling stations.
- 28,000: Transgender voters who registered. For the first time, India offered a third gender choice — "other" on voter registration forms.
Courtesy: http://abcnews.go.com/, Source: flickr.com