With nearly 110 million voters, 65,000 paramilitary soldiers on standby, 18,000 voting machines, elections in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, started here today. The Election Commission, the independent government body that conducts and supervises elections, says it's an enormous challenge to conduct an election on such a large scale, according to a report of the Associated Press. As a result, voting for the state legislature has been split into seven phases over the next month and results will be announced only on May 11, said A.K. Bishnoi, the state's chief electoral officer. Some 16.6 million people are eligible to cast their ballots Saturday.
