18th Lok Sabha Polls To Be Held In Seven Phases From April 19 To June 1, Counting On June 4

New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) The Election Commission of India on Saturday announced the schedule for the 543 parliamentary constituencies for 18th Lok Sabha elections, the biggest democratic exercise in the world involving 96.8 crore voters, including 21.5 crore young voters between age 18 to 29 years old.

The poll schedule for four state Assemblies – Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim – were also declared.

Besides this, bypolls to 26 Assembly seats will be held in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Tripura, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu.

With this, the Model Code of Conduct, as is the established norm, came into immediate effect.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, flanked by the two newly appointed Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, said elections would be held in seven phases. In 2019, elections were also held in seven phases.

The Lok Sabha elections 2024 will be held at 10.5 lakh polling stations from April 19 to June 1 and counting of votes will be held on June 4.

The first phase of polling will be conducted on April 19 for 102 seats for 21 States

Arunachal Pradesh 2
Assam 5
Bihar 4
Chhattisgarh 1
Madhya Pradesh 6
Maharashtra 5
Manipur 2
Meghalaya 2
Mizoram 1
Nagaland 1
Rajasthan 12
Sikkim 1
Tamil Nadu 39
Tripura 1
Uttar Pradesh 8
Uttarakhand 5
West Bengal 3
Andaman & Nicobar Islands 1
Jammu & Kashmir 1
Lakshadweep 1
Puducherry !

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the second phase will be held on April 26 for 89 seats across 13 states

Assam 5
Bihar 5
Chhattisgarh 3
Karnataka 1
Kerala 20
Madhya Pradesh 7
Maharashtra 8
Manipur 1
Rajasthan 13
Tripura 1
Uttar Pradesh 8
West Bengal 3
Jammu & Kashmir 1

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the third phase on May 7 for 94 seats across 12 states

Assam 4
Bihar 5
Chhattisgarh 7
Goa 2
Gujarat 26
Karnataka 14
Madhya Pradesh 8
Maharashtra 11
Uttar Pradesh 10
West Bengal 4
Dadra Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu 1
Jammu & Kashmir 1

the fourth phase on May 13 for 96 seats across 10 states

Andhra Pradesh 25
Bihar 5
Jharkhand 4
Madhya Pradesh 8
Maharashtra 11
Odisha 4
Telengana 17
Uttar Pradesh 13
West Bengal 8
Jammu and Kashmir 1

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the fifth phase on May 20 for 49 seats across 8 states

Bihar 5
Jharkhand 3
Maharashtra 13
Odisha 5
Uttar Pradesh 14
West Bengal 7
Jammu and Kashmir 1
Ladakh 1

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the sixth phase on May 25 for 57 seats across 7 states

Bihar 8
Haryana 10
Jharkhand 4
Odisha 6
Uttar Pradesh 14
West Bengal 8
NCT of Delhi 7

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the seventh and final phase will be held on June 1 for 57 seats across 8 states

Bihar 8
Himachal Pradesh 4
Jharkhand 3
Odisha 6
Punjab 13
Uttar Pradesh 13
West Bengal 9
Chandigarh 1

The tenure of the 17th Lok Sabha ends on June 16.

Kumar said there are 96.8 crore registered voters in the country, including 49.7 crore male voters, and 47.1 crore female voters.

Talking about the magnitude of the Lok Sabha polls, the CEC said: “The total number of voters (in India) is more than the combined voters of many continents.”

Over 10.5 lakh polling stations have been set up with 1.5 crore polling officials and security staff on poll duty. More than 55 lakh EVMs and 4 lakh vehicles will be deployed for the elections, the CEC informed.

Kumar also said that having successfully conducted 17 general elections, over 400 state polls, and 16 Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections, the ECI has set a “golden standard” in electoral exercise.

There are 1.8 crore first-time voters and 19.74 crore voters in the age group of 20-29 years this time, he said.

Also, 88.4 lakh PwDs (persons with disabilities), 88 lakh voters above the age of 85, 48,000 transgenders, and 2.18 lakh centenarians will participate in the elections, the CEC added.

There was also a great deal of popular anticipation as to whether polls for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly would be synchronised with the parliamentary election. That, however, has not happened, perhaps due to considerations relating to the security situation in the region.

The Supreme Court has directed that polls for the Union Territory of J&K have to be completed by September end.