India's general election will take place in seven phases between April and May, the Election Commission says.
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With 900 million eligible voters, India's election will be the largest the world has seen.
PM Narendra Modi's ruling BJP will be battling the main opposition Congress and a host of regional parties.
Leaders of two powerful regional rivals have formed a coalition against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, and a key bellwether state.
The lower house has 543 elected seats and any party or coalition needs a minimum of 272 MPs to form a government.
So what makes these elections distinctive?
1. It's mind-bogglingly big
Everything about Indian general elections is colossal - the Economist magazine once compared it to a "lumbering elephant embarking on an epic trek".
This time, more than 900 million people above the age of 18 are expected to cast their ballots at a million polling stations.
Image caption Rahul Gandhi has transformed himself into a more decisive and energetic leader
The number of voters is bigger the population of Europe and Australia combined.
Indians are enthusiastic voters - the turnout in the last general election in 2014 was more than 66%, up from 45% in 1951 when the first election was held.
More than 8,250 candidates representing 464 parties contested the 2014 elections, nearly a seven-fold increase from the first election.
2. It takes a long, long time
The dates on which voting will be held are 11 April, 18 April, 23 April, 29 April, 6 May, 12 May and 19 May.
Some states will hold polls in several phases.
India's historic first election in 1951-52 took three months to complete. Between 1962 and 1989, elections were completed in four to 10 days. The four-day elections in 1980 were the country's shortest ever.
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