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 voting process that is admired across the world and hears why so many ordinary Indians take such pride in voting. ( 1 x 37′)
First broadcast May 2009 BBC Radio 4
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