Indian elections: Millions of voters, gallons of ink

India's general election is the world's largest democratic exercise.

India's general election is the world's largest democratic exercise.

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Here are some facts and figures on the five-phase ballot that begins April 16.

71,40,00,000 registered voters

61,00,000 security and civil personnel on election duty

8,28,804 polling booths nationwide

1 -- Number of voters required for a 100 percent turnout at Junagadh polling station in Gujarat, which caters to a lone constituent.

543 elected seats in lower house of parliament 131 seats reserved for tribals or lower-caste candidates

5,180 metres -- Elevation above sea level of India's highest polling booth in Fastan village in Kashmir's Ladakh region.

26 kilometres -- Distance from the Fastan polling booth to the nearest road. 1,368,430 electronic voting machines

10,000 tonnes -- Estimated amount of paper that will be saved by the use of electronic voting machines.

157 years -- Combined age of two main candidates for prime minister, Manmohan Singh and L K Advani

100,000,000,000 rupees (two billion dollars) -- Total estimated cost of 2009 election, according to a survey by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS)

2,500,000 rupees -- Legal limit of campaign spending by individual candidates.

25,000,000,000 rupees -- Combined amount candidates will spend on illegal vote buying, according to CMS estimate.

200,000 dollars reportedly paid by ruling Congress party to secure campaign rights to the Oscar-winning song from "Slumdog Millionaire", "Jai Ho" ("Victory").

2,000,000 bottles of indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers to prevent double voting.