India's 17^th Loksabha Elections kicked off today. Elections are spread over six weeks and different regions go for vote in seven different phases upto 19^th May.

About 900 million Indian citizens are eligible for voting in this election. Today, in the first phase, about 142 million voters from 20 States and Union Territories were covered.

According to the news reports from various states and UTs, there was a good excitement towards voting and a good voter turnout was registered.

In last General elections, overall voter turnout was 66%. This is almost 2-3^rd of all eligible voters and is a good figure in my opinion. But continuous efforts are being put to increase the participation even further.

Google took this opportunity to educate and encourage voters to go for voting through its special Doodle today:

Google's Doodle features the index finger marked with indelible election ink. I sincerely wish that this representative image will change in future and the practice of putting this indelible stain on millions of fingers is discontinued in favour of something better (and more aesthetic).

Google described the whole polling process in 7 steps with a link to the official government website for A Guide to General Voters.

With the addition of about 83 million new voters for this election, I appreciate Google's effort to spread awareness among young as well as old voters.

With the end of the first phase, the fate of 91 Loksabha constituencies and 1279 candidates is locked in EVMs. The counting will be done only on 23^rd May when all seven phases gets completed (by 19^th May).

What India needs to do to increase its voting %age?

The biggest problem is that rapid urbanization has led to migration of working population from their native place of residence. Many eligible students are studying outside of their home town. All these people are required to travel to their native places where they hold there election cards solely for voting.

My cousin sister is coming here to vote from a remote place, some 500 km away, where her husband works. Unfortunately, her husband won't be able to vote because of his job responsibilities there.

I've heard that mystic Sadhguru is in USA and is flying back & forth to India only for casting his vote. His daughter is coming from London only for this purpose.

All these practical problems need to be sorted out to increase the vote percentage. There is an established system for the personnel of armed forces who are always posted away from their homes. There is also a system of voting through mail for NRIs (Non-Resident Indians). Something needs to be done on similar lines to facilitate voting for civilians who are away from their constituencies.

• What's your opinion?
• How much is the average voter turnout in your country / constituency?