ABSTRACT
With a population of over one billion, an electorate of over 600 million and the number of elected rulers in its multi-tier governance from village Panchayats to the national parliament exceeding 3.2 million (one-third of them women), India can legitimately claim to be the largest democracy on earth today. It can draw pride and comfort from the impressive record of the uninterrupted continuity of functioning democratic institutions for over half a century.
