Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The last steps of the great Indian ballot
The seventh and last phase of the country's weeks-long electoral process has ended. Surmounting treacherous terrains and an extreme summer, the election personnel - an estimated 15 million polling staff and security personnel - have ensured that 970 million voters have exercised their franchise in a show of the world's largest exercise in democracy. The 44-day-long electoral process will conclude with the counting of the votes on June 4. Here is a tribute to the resilience and the spirit of the vote
People wait to vote at a polling station during the seventh and last phase of India's general election in Varanasi, India, on June 1, 2024. Nestled along the sacred Ganga river and holding a revered position in the play of Indian politics, Varanasi's diverse population lined up to vote in harmony, recording a 56.35 percent voter turnout.
Travelling long distances, polling officials gather at the distribution centre in Netaji Indoor Stadium, Kolkata, on May 31, 2024, to collect electronic voting machines (EVM), ballot units, and other election materials ahead of the final phase of the 2024 elections. 
A Bakharwal breed dog leads a couple from Almi, a remote Himalayan hamlet in Chamba district, as they step out to vote in the final phase of the general elections in Himachal Pradesh on June 1, 2024. Polling officials trudged up treacherous Himalayan mountain paths and across rickety bridges for seven hours to set up a polling booth.
Image: Santosh Kumar/HT via Getty ImagesSecurity team follows polling officials carrying EVMs and other election materials at a distribution centre in BS College Danapur, Patna, on the eve of the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 31, 2024.
Image: Sudipta Das/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesA recreational facility awaits children outside a pink booth set up to empower safe, accessible voting for women in Kolkata, India, on June 1, 2024.
Image: Santosh Kumar/HT via Getty ImagesYoung women show their inked fingers after casting votes at a polling booth in Patna Women's College, Bihar, on June 1, 2024.
Image: Santosh Kumar/HT via Getty ImagesWomen from Danapur-Diyara, a village 12 km from Patna, pose for a photo after casting their vote at a polling booth on June 1, 2024, in Patna, India. Most villagers from Diyala take rickety wooden boats across the Ganga to reach Patna.Also read: Inside the 2024 elections: Policy complacency risk or is it too optimistic?
Image: Sahiba Chawdhary/ReutersCatholic nuns from the Missionaries of Charity, the global order of nuns founded by Saint Mother Teresa, wait in a line to vote at a polling station during the seventh and last phase of India's general election in Kolkata, India, on June 1, 2024.
Image: Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty ImagesA cheerful polling official puts an election print material to use, shielding herself from scorching heat at a distribution centre in Gandhi Maidan, Patna, on the eve of the final phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 31, 2024.
Image: Priyanshu Singh/ReutersPolling officials gather around a water tanker to fill their bottles at a distribution centre for election materials ahead of the seventh and last phase of India's general election on a hot summer day in Varanasi on May 31, 2024.
Image: Adnan Abidi/ReutersPortraits of Sikh gurus flank polling officers in a hall set up as a polling station in Faridkot district, Punjab, on June 1, 2024. Also read: India votes: Phase One of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 in pictures
Image: Adnan Abidi/ReutersSupporters of Sikh separatist leader Amritpal Singh, an independent candidate, sit under shade outside a polling station in a village in Firozpur, Punjab, on June 1, 2024.
Image: Adnan Abidi/ReutersA man holds his son as he votes at a polling station on June 1, 2024, during the seventh and last phase of the general election in Firozpur district, Punjab.
Image: Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFPThe driver of the iconic, dwindling yellow taxi shows his inked finger after casting his ballot to vote during the seventh and final phase of voting in India's general election, along a street in Kolkata on June 1, 2024. The dwindling metered yellow taxis can now be booked through an app, a brainchild of West Bengal's Department of Information Technology & Electronics.Also read: In election season, lessons marketers can learn from politicians, and vice-versa
Image: AFPA man walking with his ponies shows an indelible ink mark on his finger after casting his vote in Kufri, Himachal Pradesh state, on June 1, 2024. Over the last year, the National Green Tribunal panel has heavily criticised horses and ponies for damaging Kufri's green forest.
Image: Samir Jana/HT via Getty ImagesMonks of ISKCON Temple sing and chant with gusto while in a queue to cast their ballots at La Martiniere School on June 1, 2024, in Kolkata.
Image: Ritesh Shukla/Getty ImagesPolling officials seal electronic voting machines at a polling booth at the end of the voting day on June 1, 2024, in Varanasi, India. The Election Commission of India has deployed advanced technology, including electronic voting machines and a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail, to ensure a secure and transparent voting process.
