India, the world’s largest democracy, announced Wednesday it would stage a five-week election from April 7 that is expected to bring Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi to power on a platform of economic revival.
The biggest election in history will see 814 million adults eligible to vote 100 million more than last time in 2009.
The Election Commission chose the dates taking into account the availability of security forces to guard the nearly one million polling booths, as well as the onset of India’s scorching summer.
