Despite dip in election trust, Indians trek miles to cast their ballots

Mohammad Rafiq Sheikh took his time casting his ballot this morning in the northern Indian town of Ramban.

After pressing the button for his party on the electronic voting machine (EVM), he carefully waited to hear the machine’s beep tone, and then to see the correct party symbol appear on screen, before leaving the government school-turned-polling station.

“I don’t want to waste my vote,” says Mr. Sheikh, waiting for his 10 family members to file out of the building. “Even one vote can decide a winner.”

They are some of the first people to vote in India’s massive, high-stakes election. Nearly a billion voters are expected to flock to the polls over the next month to elect 543 members to India’s Parliament – and determine whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win a third term in office. This is despite growing mistrust of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and concerns about the authenticity of votes cast via EVMs. Indeed, for a country grappling with a democratic backslide, the enduring faith in India’s electoral system is a point of hope.




https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2024/0419/India-election-commission-trust