A day ahead of results for the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday said that India set a world record with 64.2 crore voters, including 31.2 crore women, participating in the nation’s general elections.
Speaking at a press briefing, Kumar highlighted the massive scale of the electoral process, involving over 68,000 monitoring teams and 1.5 crore polling and security personnel.
Addressing social media memes referring to election commissioners as ‘Laapataa Gentlemen’, Kumar quipped, “We were always here, never went missing.” He added, “Now memes can say the ‘Laapataa Gentlemen’ are back.”
The reference to ‘Laapataa Gentlemen’ was to a film called ‘Laapataa Ladies’ directed by Kiran Rao.
Kumar also spoke on the logistics involved in the polling process, saying that nearly four lakh vehicles, 135 special trains, and 1,692 air sorties were utilized for conducting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Only 39 repolls took place in the 2024 general elections as against 540 repolls in 2019,” he noted.
Regarding voter turnout, Kumar highlighted Jammu and Kashmir’s highest participation in four decades, with an overall turnout of 58.58 percent and 51.05 percent in the Valley.
“Seizures of Rs 10,000 crore, including cash, freebies, drugs, and liquor, were made during the 2024 polls as compared to Rs 3,500 crore in 2019,” he added.