India will hold a general election starting on Thursday in the World’s largest democratic exercise. The election will be held in seven phases until May19 and votes will be counted on May 23. Ninety-one constituencies across 20 states will poll in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election. Here are some of the highlights of the first phase:
142 million: Size of electorate, which includes 7,764 third-gender voters
1,279: Number of candidates in the fray
7%: Share of women candidates
170,664 polling booths
