The election to the 18th Lok Sabha will be held in seven phases starting from April 19 and the counting will be done on June 4
STAFF REPORTER
The Election Commission of India (ECI) today announced the dates for the election to the 18th Lok Sabha. At a press conference held in the national capital, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced the election schedule wherein the polling will be held in seven phases starting from April 19 and go on till June 1. The votes will be counted on June 4.
Besides announcing the dates for the Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission also announced the polling dates for Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim. The schedule for state assembly polls is as follows:
Arunachal Pradesh: April 19
Andhra Pradesh: May 13
Odisha: May 13 and 20
Sikkim: April 19
The current term of the Lok Sabha ends on June 16, necessitating the formation of a new House before then. Concurrently, the assemblies in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Odisha are set to end their terms on different dates in June.
Earlier, the ECI stated that approximately 97 crore Indians would be eligible to vote in this year’s Lok Sabha elections, representing a 6% increase in registered voters since 2019. Following the months-long intense Special Summary Revision 2024, the Election Commission of India issued electoral registers in all states and union territories across the country in early February.
The Election Commission is committed to ensuring inducement-free, impartial, peaceful, and transparent polling during the Lok Sabha election, and it will maintain a level playing field for all political parties, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar stated at a news conference earlier this month.
In addition to the Lok Sabha election, several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, are planning simultaneous assembly elections in the coming months, according to media reports.
In 2019, the Lok Sabha elections were held in seven phases between April and May. The results were announced on May 23, 2019.
In how many phases will voting take place?
In the first phase on April 19, voting will be held on 102 Lok Sabha seats in 21 states and union territories.
The second phase will take place on April 26 and voting will take place on 89 Lok Sabha seats in 13 states and union territories.
The third phase will be held on May 7 in which voting will be held on 94 seats in 12 states and union territories.
In the third phase on May 13, votes will be cast on 96 seats in 10 states.
Voting will be held on 49 seats in 8 states in the fifth phase on May 20.
Voting will be held on 57 Lok Sabha seats in seven states in the sixth phase on May 25.
The seventh phase will take place on June 1 and voting will be held on 57 Lok Sabha seats in 8 states.
In how many phases will voting take place in which state?
Voting will be held in one phase in 22 states and union territories. Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Ladakh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Telangana, Uttarakhand. Voting will be done in single phase. Voting will be held in two phases in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tripura and Manipur.
Voting will be held in three phases each in Chhattisgarh and Assam. Voting will be held in four phases each in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, while voting will be held in five phases each in Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from this, voting will be held in seven phases each in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
In which state will elections be held on which date?
Voting for 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh will be held in the fourth phase on May 13.
Voting will be held for 2 seats of Arunachal Pradesh in the first phase on 19th April.
For the 14 seats of Assam, voting will be held for 5 seats on 19th April, 5 seats on 16th April and 4 seats on 7th May.
Voting will be held on 40 Lok Sabha seats of Bihar on 4 April, 5 on 26 April, 5 on 7 May, 5 on 13 May, 5 on 20 May, 8 on 25 May and 8 on 1 June.
Voting will be held on 11 seats of Chhattisgarh on 19 April, 26 April and 7 May.
Voting for 2 seats of Goa will be held on 7th May.
Voting for 26 Lok Sabha seats of Gujarat will be held in a single phase in the third phase on 7th May.
This time around 97 crore voters will cast their vote.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said in the election press conference that this time 21.5 crore young voters will cast their votes. Of these, 1.82 crore are first voters. There were 91 crore voters in 2019. This figure has increased to 97 crores this year. CEC Rajiv Kumar said that a lot of hard work has been done to attract new voters. This time there are 1.8 crore voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years, 19.74 crore voters in the age group of 20 to 29 years and 82 lakh voters are above the age of 85 years.
The first voting for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections took place on 11 April and the last voting took place on 19 May. Voting was held in seven phases. Under this, voting was held in a single phase in 16 states and union territories, while voting took place in more than one phase in many states including UP-MP. Voting was held in two phases in Karnataka, Manipur, Rajasthan and Tripura. There were three phases of voting in Assam, Chhattisgarh and three phases in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra. Apart from this, voting took place in five phases in Jammu and Kashmir and seven phases in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
With the announcement of the poll schedule, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force. The Chief Election Commissioner said the ECI team is fully prepared for the biggest festival of Indian democracy. He said the country has 97 crore registered voters and over 10.5 lakh polling stations manned by 1.5 crore personnel. He added there will be 1.82 crore first-time voters in this election. Mr Kumar highlighted that the Commission is ready to facilitate vote from home for electors over 85 years of age and for persons with disabilities. He also said political parties will have to explain why they have fielded a candidate with serious criminal cases in the elections. He said adequate numbers of EVMs and VVPATs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the poll is conducted smoothly.
CEC Rajiv Kumar said the daunting challenges in conducting free and fair elections are 4Ms – muscle, money, misinformation, and MCC violations. He asserted that ECI has put in place measures to deal with these disruptive challenges. He also said drone-based checking will be done on polling day to check the use of muscle power. He underlined that there is no place for bloodbath and violence in the elections and the Commission will be ruthless if violence takes place anywhere during polls. Mr. Kumar said the enforcement agencies have been directed to plug the inflow and distribution of liquor, cash, freebies and drugs. He added that the Commission has also asked the agencies to do strict vigil of online cash transfers. The CEC also highlighted that directions have been given to election machinery, parties on waste management, minimum paper use and reducing carbon footprint for sustainable elections. He said 2100 observers will be deployed to ensure free and fair elections.
The term of the current Lok Sabha is ending on 16th June this year. The country has 543 Lok Sabha seats out of which 84 Parliamentary constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Caste and 47 for Schedule Tribes. Our correspondent reports that by-polls for 26 assembly seats in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura will also be held along with the Lok Sabha polls.