Indians vote in marathon election

The world’s largest democracy goes to the polls Thursday in phase one of a staggered general election that will end May 13. Indian elections are massive, complex affairs, but at heart the issues and emotions are elemental.The first stage of India’s general election kicks off Thursday with 17 states going to the polls in the biggest exercise of democratic will anywhere and at any time in human history.About 714 million of India’s 1.1 billion-strong population - more than twice the population of the USA - is eligible to vote in an election of staggering scale, complexity and sheer human drama.Candidates jostling for a position in India’s 543-seat Parliament hail from more than 1,000 registered political parties and include political stalwarts, upstarts, Bollywood stars, cricketers, upper caste members, as well as representatives of the lowest rungs of India’s caste-ridden society.“An Indian general election is a fairly massive exercise,” says Uday Bhaskar, former director of the New Delhi-based Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses. “This year, there is a larger demographic base because more younger people are joining voting lists and the older population is living longer and is more active than before. In 2009, the demographic is also more connected because of technology - TV, cell phones, and the Internet.”