India election schedule raises criticism

The election schedule for India has been released, beginning on 11 April and ending more than five weeks later on 19 May.

There will be seven stages of voting, with the results counted on 23 May.

The schedule has attracted some criticism, with some commentators claiming multiple stages carried out in one state could impact campaigning and so affect voters’ decisions.

However, others have suggested multiple phases of voting in individual states could be down to the need to move federal security forces required to patrol the polling stations from one region to the other.