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India will conduct a seven-phase marathon election starting in April to elect members for the 18th Lok Sabha. The polling will commence on 19 April and continue until 1 June, with vote counting scheduled for 4 June, the chief election commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, said on Saturday.
The subsequent phases will occur on 26 April; 7 May; 13 May; 20 May; 25 May; and 1 June.
Along with the dates for general elections, the poll panel also announced dates for assembly elections in four states – Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha.
Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will be held on 19 April, and in Andhra Pradesh on 13 May.
Elections to Odisha assembly will be held in two phases on 13 May and 20 May, with results on 1 June.
Nearly a billion Indians, approximately 970 million, will cast their votes over six weeks, the longest ever. The election commission will set up over a million polling stations, with 2,400 political parties likely to contest.
The tenure of the 17th Lok Sabha ends on 16 June 2024.
In 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 303 seats and its coalition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had secured 350 seats.
Conversely, the Indian National Congress had won only 52 seats, falling short of the required 10% to claim the Leader of the Opposition post, with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) secured 91 seats. The rest of the 98 seats went to other parties.
This time around, PM Modi has set a target of 370 seats for the BJP, and 400-plus for the NDA it heads in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
With the announcement of the election dates, the Model Code of Conduct is now in effect. Consequently, the government is prohibited from announcing any new projects or schemes. Any necessary announcements in the public interest must receive prior approval from the Election Commission.
In the previous assembly elections across 11 states, the Election Commission confiscated ₹3,400 crore. To prevent illicit methods of influencing voters, the Commission will use e-way bill analytics to detect any unusual demand spikes for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in specific areas. Additionally, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will scrutinize digital payment wallets for suspicious money distribution activities.
“We have made it clear to all political parties to not use children for campaigning purposes,” Kumar said.
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Published: 16 Mar 2024, 04:48 PM IST
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