India Breaks World Record with Huge Voter Turnout in 2024 Elections

India has made a new world record by having an extremely high voter turnout of 64.2 crore people, including 31.2 crore women, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This massive participation made the 2024 polls the largest democratic event ever held globally, according to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. 

Speaking at a press conference, Kumar talked about the gigantic scale of the electoral process. It involved over 68,000 monitoring teams and a huge number of 1.5 crore polling and security staff. The logistics were also mind-boggling, with nearly four lakh vehicles, 135 special trains, and 1,692 air sorties used to ensure smooth conduct of the elections. = Dismissing social media jokes that had called the Election Commissioners 'Missing Gentlemen', Kumar joked, "We were always here, never went missing. Now jokes can say the 'Missing Gentlemen' are back." 

The Chief Election Commissioner also praised the high voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir, which recorded its highest participation in four decades at 58.58 percent overall and 51.05 percent in the Valley. 

Highlighting the Commission's commitment to conducting free and fair elections, Kumar revealed that seizures worth a huge Rs 10,000 crore, including cash, freebies, drugs, and liquor, were made during the 2024 polls – a significant increase from the Rs 3,500 crore seized in 2019.

The successful conduct of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which saw minimal repolls of only 39 as compared to 540 in 2019, shows the strength of the electoral system and the unwavering spirit of the world's largest democracy.