History of Indian Elections
From 17.3 crore voters in 1951–52 to 96.8 crore in 2024, India has run the world's largest democratic exercise 18 times for the Lok Sabha and hundreds of times for state assemblies.
Milestones
Electorate Growth
Registered electors (crore), approximate.
Presidential Election 2022
Electoral college: elected MPs and MLAs (value-weighted votes).
Droupadi Murmu became India's 15th President, the first from a Scheduled Tribe and the youngest to hold the office.
Vice-Presidential Election 2025
Held 9 September 2025 after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned in July 2025. Electoral college: all MPs of both Houses.
Presidents of India
| # | Name | Tenure |
|---|
Vice Presidents
| # | Name | Tenure |
|---|
Prime Ministers
| Name | Party | Tenure |
|---|
Longest-serving PM
Jawaharlal Nehru — nearly 17 years (1947–1964). Narendra Modi is second-longest in continuous tenure, in office since 2014.
Biggest Lok Sabha mandate
INC, 1984 — 414 seats (with 1985 polls in Assam and Punjab) under Rajiv Gandhi, the largest single-party tally ever.
Highest turnout
West Bengal 2026 — about 93.7% in the Assembly election, the highest in any Indian general or state election. Lok Sabha record: 67.4% (2019).