64 Crore Votes, One Ink Mark at a Time: Inside the Largest Election in History

In the spring of 2024, polling teams across India set out by road, boat and on foot to reach voters in mountain villages, forests, islands and desert hamlets. Their job everywhere was the same: make sure every eligible citizen could cast a vote.

When the 2024 Lok Sabha election ended, 64.2 crore people had voted at polling stations. The Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, called it a world record, 1.5 times the combined voters of all the G7 countries ^[1].

This story is not about who won or lost. It is about something every Indian can take pride in, whatever their politics: the sheer scale of the exercise.

The numbers

• Before the election, more than 96.88 crore people were registered to vote ^[2].
• Voting took place in seven phases, starting on 19 April 2024 ^[3], and votes were counted on 4 June ^[4].
• There were more than 10.5 lakh polling stations, staffed by about 1.5 crore polling and security personnel ^[3][1].
• About 1.82 crore were first-time voters ^[3].
• 31.2 crore women voted, which the Election Commission called the highest ever anywhere in the world ^[1].
• Turnout at polling stations was 65.79 per cent ^[4]. Including postal ballots, a total of about 64.64 crore votes were cast ^[5].

The Election Commission

At the centre of this operation is the Election Commission of India, an independent constitutional body. It sets the schedule, prepares voter lists, deploys staff, enforces the Model Code of Conduct for parties and candidates, and declares results. During elections, government officials across the country work under its direction.

Reaching every voter

For the first time in a general election, voting from home was offered across India to voters aged 85 and above and to persons with disabilities who chose it. More than 81 lakh voters were over 85, and more than 90 lakh voters with disabilities were registered ^[6].

Machines and paper

India votes on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), each paired with a VVPAT unit that prints a paper slip showing the voter’s choice for a few seconds before it drops into a sealed box. EVMs have been questioned by some petitioners and political parties over the years. In April 2024, the Supreme Court heard a petition asking for a return to paper ballots or for every VVPAT slip to be counted. It rejected the plea, while issuing directions to further strengthen safeguards ^[7].

A smoother election

The Election Commission reported that repolls, where voting has to be held again because of problems, fell to 39, compared with 540 in 2019. It also reported seizures of cash, liquor, drugs and freebies worth about ₹10,000 crore, nearly three times the 2019 figure, as part of efforts to stop illegal inducements to voters ^[1].

Why it matters

India has held regular general elections since 1951–52, with peaceful transfers of power between governments of different parties. That record means that ordinary citizens, rich and poor, in cities and villages, choose who governs them, and can change that choice at the next election.

The largest election in history was not run by a few people at the top. It was made possible by teachers, clerks, police officers, drivers and boatmen working long hours far from home, and made meaningful by crores of voters who queued in the summer heat. Whatever one’s political views, an inked finger raised in the air is something every Indian can celebrate.