LUCKNOW, India, April 07, SPA -- With nearly 110 million voters, 65,000 paramilitary soldiers on standby, 18,000 voting machines, elections in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, started here today. The Election Commission, the independent government body that conducts and supervises elections, says it's an enormous challenge to conduct an election on such a large scale, according to a report of the Associated Press. As a result, voting for the state legislature has beensplit into seven phases over the next month and resultswill be announced only on May 11, said A.K. Bishnoi, thestate's chief electoral officer. Some 16.6 million peopleare eligible to cast their ballots Saturday.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/438999