New Delhi: The Election Commission has announced dates and the full schedule for the 18th Lok Sabha election. The 2024 general election will be held in seven phases. The counting will be done on June 4. Voting in the first phase will be conducted on April 19.
The seven phases will cover a total of 543 constituencies.
Simultaneously, elections will also be held to the assemblies of Sikkim (32 seats), Odisha (147 seats), Arunachal Pradesh (60 constituencies), Andhra Pradesh (175 constituencies).
Bypolls will be held in 26 assembly constituencies in three phases. They will be held along with the parliamentary polls.
The counting of votes for all elections will be held on the same day, June 4.
While the first phase will start on April 19, the last phase of election will be held on June 1.
Photo: YouTube/ Election Commission of India
The Model Code of Conduct, prohibiting the government in power from announcing any new policy decisions, takes effect immediately upon its announcement.
The current government’s term is ending on June 16.
Polls to Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tripura and Manipur will be held in two phases. For Chhattisgarh and Assam, polls will be held in three phases.
Polls to Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand will be held in four phases. Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir will have two polling dates.
Polls to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal will be conducted in seven phases.
Lok Sabha election schedule by Taniya Roy on Scribd
Jammu and Kashmir
No assembly elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir, which has not conducted an Assembly poll for nearly a decade. The polls were last held in November–December 2014.
At that time, the Bharatiya Janata Party and People’s Democratic Party were in an alliance, which broke in 2018.
“All parties in J&K said the Assembly election should be held with the parliamentary polls, but the entire administrative machinery said it cannot be done simultaneously. Every Assembly segment would have 10-12 candidates, which would mean more than 1,000 candidates. Every candidate has to be provided forces. It was not possible,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said.
“But we stand committed… as soon as these elections are over, we will hold polls there,” he said.
Lok Sabha elections in the five parliamentary constituencies of the UT will be held in five phases between April 19 and May 20. The five Lok Sabha seats are: Baramulla, Srinagar, Anantnag-Rajouri, Udhampur and Jammu.
The votes will be counted on June 4.
