India kicked off month-long elections yesterday, with all signs pointing to a splintered result and government by an unsteady coalition that would struggle to see out a full term.

India's general election is the world's largest democratic exercise. Here are some facts and figures on the five-phase ballot:

• 714,000,000 registered voters;
• 6,100,000 security and civil personnel on election duty;
• 828,804 polling booths nationwide;
• 543 - number of elected seats in lower house of Parliament;
• 131 - Number of seats reserved for tribals or lower-caste candidates;
• 5,180 metres - elevation above sea level of India's highest polling booth in Fastan village in Kashmir's Ladakh region;
• 26 kilometres - distance from Fastan polling booth to nearest road;
• 1,368,430 -number of electronic voting machines;
• 10,000 tonnes - estimated amount of paper that will be saved by the use of electronic voting machines;
• 157 years - Combined age of two main candidates for Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and L.K. Advani;
• €1.5 billion - total estimated cost this year's election, according to a survey by the Centre for Media Studies;
• 2,500,000 rupees - legal limit of campaign spending by individual candidates;
• 25,000,000,000 rupees - Combined amount candidates will spend on illegal vote buying, according to CMS estimate;
• €152,000 - amount reportedly paid by ruling Congress party to secure campaign rights to Jai Ho (Victory), the Oscar-winning song from Slumdog Millionaire;
• 2,000,000 - bottles of indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers to prevent double voting.