97 Crore Voters Make India the World’s Biggest Family, Says CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday described India’s electorate of nearly 97 crore voters as the “biggest family in the world,” highlighting the enormous scale of the country’s democratic exercise.

Speaking at the regional conference of ELC 2.0 and ECINET at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Lucknow, Kumar said the size of India’s voter population was far more than a mere statistic.

“If you add the voters of the US, Canada, South America, entire Europe, entire Africa and entire South-East Asia, even then 8 crore is left,” Kumar said, underlining the scale of India’s electorate.

The CEC also highlighted the massive manpower involved in conducting Lok Sabha elections. He noted that while the Government of India employs around 65 lakh people and Walmart, one of the world’s largest private companies, employs about 20 lakh, the Election Commission’s operational network expands to nearly 1.8 crore people during elections.

Kumar said this vast workforce is connected through ECINET, the Election Commission’s digital platform. The network links state Chief Electoral Officers, District Election Officers, Sub-Divisional Magistrates, Booth-Level Officers, presiding officers and counting officials.

Emphasising the importance of transparency, Kumar said ECINET provides a common digital platform for election-related information. He contrasted its role with the widespread use of social media platform X, noting that while X has around 2.5 crore downloads in India, “the truth is on ECINET.”

According to Kumar, ECINET was launched around four to five months ago and is expected to become one of India’s largest apps by the end of 2026.

The platform contains extensive election data dating back to 1951, including polling booth-wise voter turnout, votes secured by candidates and candidate affidavits.

Kumar said the digital initiative is aimed at making election information more accessible while strengthening transparency across India’s electoral system. The comments come as the Election Commission continues to expand its use of technology in managing the world’s largest democratic exercise.