The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases beginning from April 19 and results will be announced on June 4, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on Saturday. The other phases will be on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
The tenure of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 16 and a new House will have to be constituted before that. The tenure of the four state assemblies will also end in June. While Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will be held on April 19, and in Andhra Pradesh on May 13, voting to elect a new Odisha assembly will be held in four phases on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
Bypolls will also be held for 26 assembly constituencies, Kumar said at a press conference in the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. He was flanked by two newly appointed Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.
The votes will be counted on June 4.
A total of seven states will vote on May 25, including the crucial battlegrounds of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar. While these three states are voting in every phase, a significant chunk of seats from each of these are going to the polls in the sixth round. These include eight of Bihar's 40 seats, 14 of Uttar Pradesh's 80, and eight of West Bengal's 42.
The Election Commission said it is working towards combating the 4Ms (muscle, money, misinformation, and MCC violations) that hinder the path to free and fair elections. Around 97 crore people are eligible to vote in the upcoming polls.
CEC Kumar said that voters older than 85 years of age will be allowed to vote from home. He also said that minimum basic facilities like drinking water and toilets will be made available at all polling booths.
In the last parliamentary polls, the BJP, seeking a third consecutive term this time, won 303 seats, while the Congress got 52 seats. The upcoming polls are extremely crucial for the Opposition bloc INDIA, fighting to stop the BJP's run.
Lok Sabha elections full schedule
• Phase 1- April 19, 2024
• Phase 2- 26 April 2024
• Phase 3-7 May 2024
• Phase 4 - 13 May 2024
• Phase 5 - 20 May 2024
• Phase 6 - 25 May 2024
• Phase 7 - 1 June 2024
• Counting on June 4.