Electorally advanced

India might lag the West in many ways. But the Election Commission and its gargantuan electoral machinery leave many advanced nations awestruck. In fact, the British High Commissioner to India, James Bevan, was so eager to understand how the world’s largest democracy conducts its polls, that he put in a request to the Election Commission. The High Commissioner was taken around several polling booths in Noida during the sixth phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh. Bevan was quite impressed by the seamless manner in which polls were being held. He conceded that while Indians had moved on to electronic voting machines, the British still made do with the good old ink and ballot paper.