These statistics will increase further in the 2014 General Elections, with more than 81.4 crore registered electors, 9.19 lakh polling stations and 35.98 lakh electronic voting machines. (Read In Hindi: लोकतंत्र के लिए पद यात्रा..)

No doubt that these figures inspire awe and wonder about the phenomenon and conduct of parliamentary elections of India. But they do not reveal the magnitude of the efforts undertaken by the election machinery to ensure free, fair and peaceful conduct of polls in every nook and corner of the vast country that is India, a country that is marked by huge geographic, climatic as well as demographic diversity. With the Election Commission required to have a polling station within 2 km of every voter, polling party consisting of at least five election workers must traverse jungles, deserts, glaciers and sea to fulfil their mandate. Further, in some polling stations, these efforts are undertaken to serve relatively few number of electors.

A case in point is Lower Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh. In nine polling stations in this district, polling parties walk between 10 kms and 46 kms on foot to conduct polls.