BBC to bring live coverage of India’s 2014 election

With the general elections in India just a few weeks away, BBC Global News, has decided to provide live coverage of the 2014 polls, for the first time.

Mr. Jim Egan, Chief Executive, BBC Global News, said: “Obviously, it’s a huge year in India and there is a lot of global attention around the Lok Sabha elections. We think a lot about Indian programming. We have to think both about (catering to) our Indian audiences, as well as global interest in India. We always have this dual focus in what we do.”

To date, the channel wasn’t regularly broadcasting content from India, apart from its weekly business program The India Business Report. In January this year, BBC had brought its HARDtalk programme to the country, with journalist Stephen Sackur interviewing various Indian political figures including Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

“We want to have programming that looks at different aspects of Indian life because India is a huge country, with enormous geographical diversity. So, we are trying to shine a light on some of that to our viewers around the world,” Mr Egan added.

The live coverage of Lok Sabha 2014 elections will include on-the-spot analysis of the polls, daily shows conducted live from India and BBC Trending’s social media teams to be based in India during the election.

BBC also announced plans to launch an Indian version of its mobile website in April.