Sacred Election

It’s the biggest single organised event in the world
714 million voters, 800,000 polling stations
7 million election officials and securuty forces
…and 1.2 million electronic voting machines

Political anthropologist Dr Mukulika Banerjee of University College London goes behind the scenes of India’s 15th General Election to discover how the country manages to defy apparently insuperable odds to deliver an efficient and effective democratic process that is admired across the world.

Contributors: Election Commissioner Dr SY Quraishi, political analyst Yogendra Yadav and veteran British psephologist Dr David Butler, and many voters around the country - from paddy farmers in West Bengal to slum dwellers in Mumbai.

Producer Mukti Jain Campion

Radio Choice: The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent

Programme still available to listen again here