World's largest democratic event

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World's largest democratic event
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India, the most populous democracy on the planet,
is about to hold elections that will seat a new
parliament and prime minister. It will be the
largest democratic event in history. About 15,000
candidates from 500 political parties are vying
for 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, or lower house of
Parliament. Those candidates are expected to
spend about 5 billion on campaigning. That's
second only to the most expensive U.S.
presidential campaign -- 7 billion in 2012. More
than 814 million voters are eligible to vote at
930,000 polling stations. Electronic voting
machines will be used and will, for the first
time, contain a None of the Above (Nota) button -
an option for voters who do not want to cast
their ballot for any of the candidates. Once
they have voted, their fingers are stained with
indelible ink, a sign that they had exercised
their right to vote. Parliamentary elections in
India are held every five years. The nine-phase
voting got under way Monday and will conclude on
May 12. Votes will be counted on May 16. It is
being staggered over more than a month for
security and logistical reasons.
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In Other News

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• Actor Mickey Rooney, one of Hollywood's brightest
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  annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from
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  by Kiev and the West. On Sunday, a Russian
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• U.S. Soccer has announced that Tom Sermanni has
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  U.S. Women's National Team. Team USA is hoping to
  contend for a title at the 2015 World Cup in
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