The Big Fat Indian Election Is the Country’s New Tourism Draw

India is valued the world over for a great many things, but for three over all others: The Taj Mahal, Mahatma Gandhi and India’s electoral democracy. So wrote S.Y. Quraishi, Chief Election Commissioner of India between 2010 and 2012, in his book, The Making of the Great Indian Election. Few people would argue with that. Yet, while the Taj Mahal is a must-see and Gandhi tours are aplenty, the last of the three greats has eluded tourism players. But as the big fat Indian general election approaches next month, Manish Sharma, founder of Akshar Travels in Ahmedabad in India’s westernmost state Gujarat, may be sparking a new travel niche. He calls it election tourism. What he is doing is essentially putting an election component into existing tour packages, such as lectures and visits to polling places. “Our industry has various niches like pilgrim tours, sports tours, honeymoons. Why can’t election tourism also be a niche? People always want new experiences,” Sharm