At stake in this election:

• 543 seats in the Lok Sabha

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Pranab MUKHERJEE
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Narendra MODI
• Assembly: India has a bicameral Parliament (Sansad) consisting of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) with 245 seats and the People's Assembly (Lok Sabha) with 545 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• In the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), 233 members are indirectly elected by the state legislatures to serve 6-year terms and 12 members are appointed by the president to serve 6-year terms.[1] In the People's Assembly (Lok Sabha), 543 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms and 2 members are appointed by the president.

Election Note:

• The election will be held in nine phases from April 7 to May 12, 2014. Results will be announced on May 16. This election will be the largest as well as the most expensive election in Indian history. There are over 814 million people registered to vote at an estimated 930,000 polling stations, which will be staffed by 5.5 million election officials.[2] [3] Parties are expected to spend about US$5 billion, three times as much as the 2009 election. The election may cost the government of India Rs. 3,500 crores (US$82 million).[4]

Election Schedule:

• Due to India's large population (814,000,000 voters are eligible to vote), elections to the People's Assembly (Lok Sabha) will take place over nine days between April 7 and May 12, 2014. Elections will take place as follows:

• April 7, 2014 – Assam (5 constituencies), Tripura (1)
• April 9, 2014 – Arunachal Pradesh (2), Manipur (1), Meghalaya (2), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1)
• April 10, 2014 – Bihar (6), Chhattisgarh (1), Haryana (10), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Jharkhand (5), Kerala (20), Madhya Pradesh (9), Maharashtra (10), Odisha (10), Uttar Pradesh (10), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Chandigarh (1), Lakshadweep (1), NCT of Delhi (7)
• April 12, 2014 – Assam (3), Sikkim (1), Tripura (1)
• April 17, 2014 – Bihar (7), Chhattisgarh (3), Gujarat (2), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Jharkhand (5), Karnataka (28), Madhya Pradesh (10), Maharashtra (19), Manipur (1), Odisha (11), Rajasthan (20), Tripura (11), West Bengal (4)
• April 24, 2014 – Assam (6), Bihar (7), Chhattisgarh (7), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Jharkhand (4), Madhya Pradesh (10), Maharashtra (19), Rajasthan (5), Tamil Nadu (39), Uttar Pradesh (12), West Bengal (6), Puducherry (1)
• April 30, 2014 – Andhra Pradesh (17), Bihar (7), Gujarat (26), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Punjab (13), Uttar Pradesh (14), West Bengal (9), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1), Daman and Diu (1)
• May 7, 2014 – Andhra Pradesh (25), Bihar (7), Himachal Pradesh (4), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Uttar Pradesh (15), Uttarakhand (5), West Bengal (6)
• May 12, 2014 – Bihar (6), Uttar Pradesh (18), West Bengal (17)

More details on the election schedule can be found at   http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/current/Press%20Note%20GE-2014_05032014.pdf.           

Main parties in this electoral race:

• Alliance: United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
  • Party: Indian National Congress (INC)[5]
    • Chairperson: Sonia GANDHI
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 206
    • States: All, National Party
  • Party: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
    • Chairperson: Sharad PAWAR
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 9
    • States: Maharashtra, Bihar
  • Party: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)[6]
    • Chairperson: Lalu Prasad YADAV
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 4
    • State: Bihar
  • Party: Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)[7]
    • Chairperson: Ajit SINGH
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 5
    • State: Uttar Pradesh
  • Party: Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
    • Chairperson: Farooq ABDULLAH
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 3
    • State: Jammu & Kashmir
  • Party: Indian Union Muslim League
    • Chairperson: E. AHMED
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 2
    • State: Kerala
  • Additional Parties
    • Kerala Congress (Mani)
    • Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)[8]
    • Mahan Dal
• Alliance: National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
  • Party: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
    • PM Candidate: Narendra MODI
    • Chairperson: Rajnath SINGH
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 116
    • States: All, National Party
    • Seats Contesting: 430
  • Party: Shiv Sena (SS)
    • Chairperson: Udhav THACKERAY
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 11
    • State: Maharashtra
    • Seats Contesting: 21
  • Party: Telugu Desam Party (TDP)^[9]
    • Chairperson: Nara Chandrababu NAIDU
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 6
    • State: Andhra Pradesh
    • Seats Contesting: 25
  • Party: Shiromani Akali Dal
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 4
    • State: Punjab
    • Seats Contesting: 10
  • Party: Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK)
    • Chairperson: VIJAYAKANTH
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 0
    • State: Tamil Nadu
    • Seats Contesting: 14
  • Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK)[10]
    • Chairperson: G.K. MODI
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 0
    • State: Tamil Nadu
    • Seats Contesting: 8
  • Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK)[11]
    • Chairperson: V GOPALSAMY “Vaiko”
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 1
    • States: Tamil Nadu
    • Seats Contesting: 7
  • Lok Janshakti Party[12]
    • Chairperson: Ram Vilas PASWAN
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 0
    • State: Bihar
    • Seats Contesting: 7
  • Rashtriya Lok Samata Party
    • Chairperson: Updendra KUSHWAHA
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 0
    • State: Bihar
    • Seats Contesting: 3
  • Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC)[13]
    • Chairperson: Kuldeep BISHNOI
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 1
    • State: Haryana
    • Seats Contesting: 2
  • National People’s Party (India)[14]
    • Chairperson: P.A. SANGMA
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 0
    • State: National Level (contesting election in Meghalaya
    • Seats Contesting: 1
  • Other Member Parties
    • Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi
    • Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam[15]
    • All India N.R. Congress[16]
    • Republican Party of India (Athvale)[17]
    • Swabhimani Paksha
    • Rashtriya Samaj Paksha[18]
    • Revolutionary Socialist Party (Bolshevik) (RSP(B))
    • Kerala Congress (Nationalist)
    • Naga People’s Front
    • Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP)
    • Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM)
• Alliance: Third Front
  • Party: Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))
    • Secretary-General: Prakash KARAT
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 16
    • State: N/A, National Party
  • Party: Communist Party of India (CPI)
    • Secretary-General: S. Sudhakar REDDY
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 4
    • State: N/A, National Party
  • Party: All India Forward Bloc
    • Chairperson: N. Velappan NAIR
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 2
    • State: N/A, National Party
  • Party: Samajwadi Party (SP)[19]
    • Chairperson: Mulayam Singh YADAV
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 26
    • State: Uttar Pradesh
  • Party: Janata Dal (United)[20]
    • Chairperson: Sharad YADAV
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 20
    • State: Bihar
  • Party: Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
    • Chairperson: Naveen PATNAIK
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 14
    • State: Odisha
  • Party: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
    • General-Secretary: J. JAYALALITHAA
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 9
    • State: Tamil Nadu
  • Party: Janata Dal (Secular)
    • Leader: H.D. DEVE GOWDA
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 3
    • State: Karnataka
  • Party: Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik)
    • Leader: Babulal MARANDI
    • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 1
    • State: Jharkhand
• Party: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
  • Leader: Arvind KEJRIWAL
  • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: N/A[21]
  • State: N/A, National Party
• Party: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)[22]
  • Chairperson: MAYAWATI
  • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 21
  • State: N/A, National Party
• Party: All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC)[23]
  • Chairperson: Mamata BANERJEE
  • Seats won in last Lok Sabha election: 19
  • State: West Bengal

Last election:

• The last elections to the Lok Sabha were held in five phases from April 16 to May 13, 2009. The center-left United Progressive Alliance (UPA), led by the Indian National Congress (INC), received 153,482,356 votes (37.22%) and won 262 seats. The center-right National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), received 102,689,312 votes (24.63%) and won 159 seats. The United National Progressive Alliance (or Third Front), led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), received 88,174,229 votes (21.15%) and won 79 seats. The Fourth Front of parties received 21,456,117 (5.14%) and won 27 seats. The UPA allied with several smaller parties to form a majority coalition of 322 seats. Manmohan SINGH remained Prime Minister. This election marked the first time since 1962 that an incumbent Prime Minister was reelected after serving a full five year term.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 1,295,291,543 (2014)
• Registered Voters: 834,101,479 (2014)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 5623,824,424 (2014)

·         Is India a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (30 July 1980)

·         Has India ratified CEDAW: Yes (9 July 1993)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 62 (following the 2014 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 130 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: High (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is India a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has India ratified CRPD: Yes (1 October 2007)

·         Population with a disability: 194,293,731 (est.)