With a dream to become a sovereign democratic republic after a 200-year-long freedom struggle from the British era, India’s first general election kicked off in 1952.
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Back in 1967, paper ballots were used instead of electronic machines (EVMs).
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Election Commission deployed boats, planes, camels as well as elephants to ensure high voter turnout in remote areas.
Though the registered voters were mostly male, several women turned up to vote in the first election
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"When I vote, I choose not just a present for myself, but also a future for my children,'' said a Reang tribal women who cast her vote at a polling booth in Tripura in 1983.
Shompen tribe, supposedly the last surviving stone-age tribes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, emerged out to vote for the first time in 2014 just to see the electronic voting machine (EVMs)
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Polling was a time-consuming process as the ballot papers were used. After the polling, the boxes were opened and mixed together.
Voters used to travel a thousand miles to get to the polling station.
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Since there were no news channels , the results were displayed outside Red Fort in New Delhi.