Greater Noida (26/4/2019) : As the world biggest democracy is exercising its electoral exercise, here are some of the interesting facts about this year’s elections.
1. The ECI has set up a total of 10 lakh polling stations across the country, 10% more than 2014.
Source: DNA India
2. In a first, candidates with criminal antecedents have to advertise their criminal records in newspapers and through television channels.
Source: Livemint
3. For the first time , the EVMs and postal ballot papers would carry the photographs of all the candidates along with their party names and symbols.
Source: Inkhabar
4. For the first time, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be used in all EVMs across the country.
Source: The Hindu
5. Around 900 million people are eligible to vote in this election, which is nearly the total population of Europe and Brazil, combined.
Source: Greater Jammu
6. 84.3 million people are supposed to be casting their votes for the first time in Lok Sabha polls 2019.
Source: India TV
7. 15 million voters between 18 and 19 years of age are supposed to be casting their votes in this year’s election.
Source: Business Standard
8. For the first time, 12 big-sized EVMs will be used at every polling booth, in the Nizamabad district of Telangana, as a whopping 185 candidates compete.
Source: NDTV
9. The richest candidate in Phase 1 of elections is KV Reddy, with family assets of ₹895 crore. He is the Congress party candidate from Telangana’s Chevella Lok Sabha constituency.
Source: Hindustan Times
10. The poorest candidate in Phase 1 of elections is Nalla Prem Kumar with declared assets of ₹500. He will be contesting on a JDU ticket from Telangana’s Chevella Lok Sabha constituency.
Source: Hindustan Times
11. Interestingly, the richest and the poorest candidates are contesting against each other from the same seat.
Source: DNA India
12. A voter can now carry any of the 12 approved identity cards to the polling station and not just the voter slip.
Source: Reddit
13. At 15,256 ft., the world’s highest polling station is in India. Tashigang in Himachal Pradesh is the highest polling station in the world and falls in Buddhist-dominated Lahaul-Spiti region.
Source: Hindustan Times
14. Reportedly, a group of election personnel will hike for an entire day to reach a lone voter in Arunachal Pradesh this time.
Source: Twitter
15. This would be the longest election in the country in terms of the number of days the polling is held for. The 2019 Lok Sabha polls would be conducted in seven phases spread across 39 days. Previously, the 2014 Lok Sabha elections were spread over 36 days.
