The biggest democratic event in the history of the world is under way in India with hundreds of millions of people voting in the country’s general election. We’ll find out on the 23rd of May whether the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been re-elected. He’s a polarising figure, loved and loathed in equal measure, who plays on his machismo. Women have had the vote since India gained Independence but last year the country was rated the most dangerous place for women in a controversial survey. Now for the first time they are being treated as a real constituency. We speak to Poonam Joshni, a women’s rights activist, and to Divya Arya, the women’s affairs correspondent for the BBC in Delhi.

Produced by: Jaja Muhammad, Seren Jones and Philly Beaumont