The Indian Election Commission has announced the dates for the country's general election. The voting will take place on February 16th, 22nd and 28th and on March 7th. From Delhi, Paul Danahar reports:

Six hundred million people are expected to take part in India's election, which is perhaps the world's biggest exercise in logistics. The sheer number of voters mean the poll has to be carried out over several days.

Time is also needed for the ballot boxes to be delivered to the various counting-stations. Some 209 political parties are expected to take part in the campaign, but the key players will be the right-wing BJP, which was the largest party in the previous parliament, the United Front Coalition, which had been in power for the last 18, and the Congress Party, which had supported the United Front government but brought about its collapse over a report into the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi which linked one of the United Front partners with the suspected assassins, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka.

The election itself is a mammoth task. Eight hundred thousand polling-stations will be set up at a cost of $179m.