--- title: The World's Largest Exercise in Democracy: Indian Election - Video description: Voting in India’s general elections concluded on Monday, five weeks after the first ballots were cast. canonical: https://time.com/98029/worlds-largest-election-india/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-13T19:13:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:48:52.251Z article:section: World og:title: The World's Largest Exercise in Democracy og:description: Voting in India’s general elections concluded on Monday, five weeks after the first ballots were cast. og:url: https://time.com/98029/worlds-largest-election-india/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte19106a6136ff1b5/69868f223bc9997b131a36fb/489783225.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Last Phase of Lok Sabha Polls 2014 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The World's Largest Exercise in Democracy twitter:description: Voting in India’s general elections concluded on Monday, five weeks after the first ballots were cast. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte19106a6136ff1b5/69868f223bc9997b131a36fb/489783225.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The World's Largest Exercise in Democracy by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video May 13, 2014 7:13 PM CUT  KOLKATA, INDIA - MAY 12: Indian voters standing in the queue to cast their votes at a polling station during the last phase of Lok Sabha polls on May 12, 2014 in Kolkata, India. The 10-phase polls that began April 7 drew some 536 million of the 814 million electorate in 28 states and seven union territories. The votes will be counted on May 16\. (Photo by Subhankar Chakraborty/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) KOLKATA, INDIA - MAY 12: Indian voters standing in the queue to cast their votes at a polling station during the last phase of Lok Sabha polls on May 12, 2014 in Kolkata, India. The 10-phase polls that began April 7 drew some 536 million of the 814 million electorate in 28 states and seven union territories. The votes will be counted on May 16\. (Photo by Subhankar Chakraborty/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)Hindustan Times—2014 Hindustan Times by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video May 13, 2014 7:13 PM CUT Voting in India’s general elections concluded on Monday, five weeks after the first ballots were cast. The poll, the biggest in world history, unfolded over nine phases, with the results expected to come in on Friday, May 16\. Some 550 million people took part in the process, which is a record turnout for India. Exit polls indicate that an alliance led by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party Party (BJP) looks set to win the elections, with their controversial leader Narendra Modi in pole position to become the country’s next Prime Minister. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/98029/worlds-largest-election-india/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/98029/worlds-largest-election-india/"},"headline":"The World's Largest Exercise in Democracy","datePublished":"2014-05-13T19:13:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:48:52.251Z","description":"An estimated 550 million people voted in the Indian national elections over the past five weeks","url":"https://time.com/98029/worlds-largest-election-india/","keywords":["India"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte19106a6136ff1b5/69868f223bc9997b131a36fb/489783225.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte19106a6136ff1b5/69868f223bc9997b131a36fb/489783225.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Last Phase of Lok Sabha Polls 2014","caption":"Last Phase of Lok Sabha Polls 2014","creditText":"Hindustan Times—2014 Hindustan Times","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/98029/worlds-largest-election-india/","name":"The World's Largest Exercise in Democracy"}}]}] ```