Setting the ball rolling for the mega electoral contest of the Lok Sabha polls 2019, the Election Commission on Sunday announced a poll schedule spread over seven phases, from April 11 to May 19, with the results to be announced on May 23.
The mammoth electoral exercise was kicked off on Sunday, with Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announcing the much awaited election schedule for the coming Lok Sabha polls and the Model Code of Conduct coming into effect immediately.
The elections will be held in seven phases—April 11, April 18, April 23, April 29, May six, May 12 and May 19. In 2014, Lok Sabha polls were held in nine phases.
The commission also announced assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim, with the schedule for the state polls coinciding with the election dates of the relevant parliamentary constituencies in the states. Bye-elections in 34 assembly constituencies will also be held in keeping with the dates for the Lok Sabha seats they fall in.
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Meanwhile, the commission has decided against holding simultaneous assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on account of the prevailing security situation and in the light of recent incidents.
CEC Arora said the commission was in particular concerned about the security of individual candidates in the backdrop of the incidents of violence in the recent past and in terms of the requirement of security forces to ensure their safety. “In our meetings with parties in Jammu and Kashmir, they repeatedly asked 'what about our security?'” he said. It is noteworthy that all parties in the violence-hit state, which is presently under Governor's rule, had conveyed to the commission that assembly polls should be held together with the parliamentary elections.
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal will have polls in seven phases, while Jammu and Kashmir will have polling in five phases. Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha will have elections in four phases. Assam and Chhattisgarh will have a three-phase polling. Elections will be held in two phases in Karnataka, Manipur, Rajasthan and Tripura.
As many as 22 states will have a single-phase polling. These include Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Delhi, Puducherry and Chandigarh.
The first phase of elections will be held on April 11 covering the states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tegalanga, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
In the second phase on April 18, constituencies in the states of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Puducherry will go to polls.
The third phase on April 23 will include constituencies in the states of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu.
The fourth phase of elections on April 29 will see polling in seats in the states of Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The fifth phase on May six will include constituencies in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The sixth phase on May 12 will have polling in constituencies in Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi.
The seventh and final phase of polling on May 19 will include constituencies in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Chandigarh.
There will be around 900 million voters in the final electoral list for the coming Lok Sabha polls, as compared to 814.5 million in 2014. There will be 84.3 million new voters in this election. Of these, 15 million are in the age group of 18-19, while there are 38,325 third gender voters.
As many as ten lakh polling stations will be set up, which is an increase of 10.1 per cent over 2014, when around nine lakh polling booths were set up.