Indian Parliamentary Elections 2014

[Aupmanyav]

Elections to the 16th Parliament of India, 2014:
The total electorate in the country as per final published E-rolls in reference to 01.01.2014 is approximately 814.5 million compared to 713 million in 2009. This marks an increase of more than 100 million electors. The Election Commission expects a 70% turnout during this election (That will make some 560 million voters). There has been a remarkable increase in the enrollment of electors in the age group of 18 to 19 years. Over 23 million electors are in this age group. Electors in the age group of 18 to 19 years now constitute 2.88% of total electors.

Commission allowed enrollment of transgender persons with gender written as "Others" in the electoral rolls since 2012. The number of electors enrolled as "Others" gender is 28,314. (Aup adds: This because many people in the forums are interested in this. I am sure, a few will be contestants in the elections. Happens every time. )

Polling Stations
Presently there are approximately 9,30,000 Polling Stations in the country, as compared to 8,30,866 Polling Stations set up during Parliamentary election, 2009. This marks an increase of nearly 11.9 percent Polling Stations. This increase is largely due to rationalization of Polling Stations, which the Commission undertook in the recent years.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVM)
The Commission has decided to use Electronic Voting Machines in all the polling stations of the country as was done in Lok Sabha Elections in 2004 and 2009. There are 14,68,430 Control Units (CUs) and 14,95,430 Ballot Units (BUs) available in the country. The country will have 17,20,080 Control Units and 18,78,306 Ballot Units. First Level Checking (FLC) of the available EVMs has been started in all the States/ UTs and has been completed in many places.

Polling Dates and conduct of elections
Polling will be held on nine days between April 7th to May 12. All critical events will be video-graphed. District Election Officers will arrange sufficient number of video and digitial cameras and camera teams for the purpose. The events for videography will include filing of nominations, scrutiny thereof and allotment of symbols, FLC, preparation and storage of EVMs, important public meetings, processions etc. during campaign, process of dispatching Postal Ballot papers, polling process in identified vulnerable Polling Stations, storage of polled EVMs, counting of votes etc. Digital cameras will also be deployed inside Polling Stations, wherever needed and inside all counting centers. CDs of video recordings will be available on payment to anyone who wishes to obtain a copy of the same. Counting will take place on 16.05.2014 (Friday) and is expected to be completed on the same day.

Law and Order, and Deployment of Forces
Conduct of elections involves elaborate security management. It includes ensuring the security of polling personnel and materials, security at the polling stations and also the overall security of the election process. CAPFs are deployed for area domination prior to poll in order to build confidence in the minds of voters specially vulnerable voters viz. SCs/ STs/ weaker sections, minorities etc.

[Poison Tree]

I always laugh when some politician or media type refers to America as "the world's largest democracy." I think there are a billion+ Indians who are worried about your math skills.

[darsenfeld]

Do you have religious and/or caste-based parties?  

If so, do the minority religions like Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, etc. feel disgruntled?  

I'm a firm Indophile though, you have the best food and women, and liberal American journalists who complain about your rape problem should look at the Zimmerman case, or neglect of New Orleans people based on race ;)

[stromboli]

Do you have religious and/or caste-based parties?  

If so, do the minority religions like Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, etc. feel disgruntled?  

I'm a firm Indophile though, you have the best food and women, and liberal American journalists who complain about your rape problem should look at the Zimmerman case, or neglect of New Orleans people based on race ;)

 :-s

[The Skeletal Atheist]

I always laugh when some politician or media type refers to America as "the world's largest democracy." I think there are a billion+ Indians who are worried about your math skills.

But we are the largest democracy.

[darsenfeld]

Do you have religious and/or caste-based parties?  

If so, do the minority religions like Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, etc. feel disgruntled?  

I'm a firm Indophile though, you have the best food and women, and liberal American journalists who complain about your rape problem should look at the Zimmerman case, or neglect of New Orleans people based on race ;)

 :-s

Er... So CNN and Fox News people don't say India is evil because it mistreats women?

So the USA, which is the non-racist paradise as its government and citizens cite, allows racists to kill black teenagers? lol.. At least India is open about its gender/caste discrimination, the USA isn't about ITS discrimination...  the point is no country/society is perfect.

[Moriarty]

Do you have religious and/or caste-based parties?  

If so, do the minority religions like Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, etc. feel disgruntled?  

I'm a firm Indophile though, you have the best food and women, and liberal American journalists who complain about your rape problem should look at the Zimmerman case, or neglect of New Orleans people based on race ;)

 :-s

Er... So CNN and Fox News people don't say India is evil because it mistreats women?

So the USA, which is the non-racist paradise as its government and citizens cite, allows racists to kill black teenagers? lol.. At least India is open about its gender/caste discrimination, the USA isn't about ITS discrimination...  the point is no country/society is perfect.

 :Hangman:

[Poison Tree]

Er... So CNN and Fox News people don't say India is evil because it mistreats women?

Not that I've ever heard; care to provide a source where they do?

[Aupmanyav]

Do you have religious and/or caste-based parties?

Yes, there are parties which claim to represent the interests of particular castes. BSP, LJP, represent the dalit interests; INLD, SP, RJD, JDU, etc. represent the interests of 'Other Backward Classes'; DMK, AIDMK, etc. represent the Tamil interests; NC, PDP, represent the Kashmir Muslim interests; NPF, MNF, etc. represent christian interest in our Eastern tribal states, BJP represents the higher caste interests.

If so, do the minority religions like Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, etc. feel disgruntled?

Jains have not felt the need to have their own party. Muslims have Indian Muslim League, Sikhs have Akali Dal. There are various parties which claim to represent the interests of neo-Buddhists (people who have recently converted from Hinduism to Buddhism). Please remember that these parties are not exclusive. By that I mean that though BJP is largely considered a Hindu party, it has muslim members. BJP elected a Muslim president of India (APJ Abdul Kalam) and a Muslim Vice-President (Justice Md. Hidayatullah) when it shared power. Similarly Akali Dal and even Muslim League have Hindu members.

We have six nationally recognized political parties, 47 regionally recognized political parties. There is no bar for formation of new parties but recognition comes if they fulfill the criteria laid down by the Election Commission of India. It also allows the candidates to be represented by a common symbol (important for a country like India where not all people can read or write).There are 1392 registered but unrecognized political parties. :)

I'm a firm Indophile though, you have the best food and women, and liberal American journalists who complain about your rape problem should look at the Zimmerman case, or neglect of New Orleans people based on race ;)

Thanks for your love for India (Do I love West for the same reasons? :)). We have taken very strong steps against rape. That may not eliminate rape but give quick and severe punishment for the perpetrators. Social correction will take some time to come up.

[Aupmanyav]

However, the most important factor forcing the EC to extend the polling phases is the elaborate arrangements required for providing security to polling personnel, material and voters. Moreover, the EC has to pre-empt any partisan conduct by state police forces, by deploying central police force in and around every single polling booth across the country. Given that the government can spare only around 1.5 million central security personnel for poll duty, the EC had no choice but to stretch the polling phases to ensure maximum security that is impartial in nature.

In fact, the government during the last general elections had to deploy 119 special trains, fly chartered flights of Air India and use transport aircraft and helicopters of the Indian Air Force to undertake around 700 sorties to ensure cross-country movement of available security personnel and make full use of them.

Apart from the security angle, the EC has to look at a slew of other factors before fixing polling dates in different states. This includes dates of school examinations, festivals, harvest seasons, rainfall and weather conditions and the views of different political parties.

[darsenfeld]

Er... So CNN and Fox News people don't say India is evil because it mistreats women?

Not that I've ever heard; care to provide a source where they do?

er.. lolwut?  This is a common mantra in the US liberal media.

[Poison Tree]

Er... So CNN and Fox News people don't say India is evil because it mistreats women?

Not that I've ever heard; care to provide a source where they do?

er.. lolwut?  This is a common mantra in the US liberal media.

Then it should be a simple matter to provide links where it happens

[Aupmanyav]

I could find one report on Google Search (first page). http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... feeds-you/

The title was interesting - "Burning-the-flag-that-feeds-you". So, in the author's opinion, US feeds India. Listed a number of US companies that operate in India. She did not say that they are here for profits and they would take profits back to US. Also mentioned about the 'Khobargade' diplomatic row (which is not yet over).

India has not objected to homosexual partnerships in the American Embassy, but existence of husband-wife teachers at American School in New Delhi, when the agreement is for 16 teachers in all. So if a spouse of a teacher also teaches, then it crosses the 16 teacher limit. Then, the American club ACSA sells tax-free wine/liquor to other Embassies, which is against the agreement. But most of you would not know about the row.

We were taking all such things lightly (and we expected US too not to take things seriously, but negotiate differences), but they went by the word of law. So, we also are going by the word of law, extra facilities denied. But it is not serious, just a hiccup in the relations, a mid-flight correction.

[Aupmanyav]

BTW, we have the NOTA facility (None of the Above), but we do not know what to do about it. No laws about it have yet been formulated. :D

[Aupmanyav]

Peoples' Choice: Rahul Gandhi (Indian National Congress) 12%, Narendra Modi (Bharatiya Janata Party) 78%, Nitish Kumar (Janata Dal United) 4%, Manmohan Singh 5% (Indian National Congress, has declined to run again), Mulayam Singh (Samajvadi Party) 1%.

(number in brackets indicate the current situation)
NDA (BJP + Shiv Sena + Shiromani Akali Dal) - 211-231 (127)
UPA (Congress + NCP + Kerala allies + JMM) - 107-127 (218)
Trinamool Congress (TMC) - 20-28 (19)
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) - 15-23 (9)
Left Front - 15-23 (16)
YSR Congress Party - 11-19
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) - 10-16 (14)
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - 10-16 (21)
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) - 9-15
Samajwadi Party (SP) - 8-14 (22)
Janata Dal United (JDU) - 7-13 (19)
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) - 7-13 (18)