Elections in India

Since independence, Elections in India have evolved a long way, but all along elections have been a significant cultural aspect of independent India.
In 2004, Indian elections covered an electorate larger than 670 million people—over twice that of the next largest, the European Parliament elections—and declared expenditure has trebled since 1989 to almost $300 million, using more than 1 million electronic voting machines.[1] In 2009, the elections covered an even larger electorate of 714 million[2] (larger than both EU and US elections combined[3]).
The size of the huge electorate mandates that elections be conducted in a number of phases (there were four phases in 2004 General Elections and five phases in 2009). It involves a number of step-by-step processes from announcement of election dates by the Election Commission of India, which brings into force the 'model code of conduct' for the political parties, to the announcement of results and submission of the list of successful candidates to the executive head of the state or the centre. The submission of results marks the end of the election process, thereby paving way for the formation of the new government.
List of National Elections

[edit]State Assembly elections (Electorate → Vidhan Sabha & Nominations → Rajya Sabha)
Main article: State Assembly elections in India
Rajya Sabha members are indirectly elected, and are almost entirely elected by Members of Assembly of individual states (Vidhan Sabha), while 12 member are nominated by the President of India, usually with the advice and consent from the Prime Minister of India. More info on Rajya Sabha can be found at http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/about_parliament/rajya_sabha_introduction.asp
[edit]Presidential elections (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha & Vidhan Sabha → President)
The President of India is indirectly elected to a 5 year term. The electoral college is used where the members of the Parliament of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and the...