India's Lok Sabha election schedule has been announced. The country's Election Commission (ECI) announced the complete schedule of elections on Saturday (March 16).
According to local media reports, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar announced the election schedule at a press conference in New Delhi.
As per the announcement, the Lok Sabha elections will be held in 7 phases. Voting will start from April 19. Counting of votes will be done on June 4.
The Chief Election Commissioner said that the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections will be held on April 26, the third phase on May 7, the fourth phase on May 13, the fifth phase on May 20, the sixth phase on May 26 and the seventh phase on June 1.
The current term of Lok Sabha will end in June. Before that a new government has to be formed. Legislatures of Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal and Odisha will also end in June. The election schedule has been announced in these states as well.
Arunachal Pradesh assembly elections will be held on April 19. Counting of votes will take place on June 4. Andhra Pradesh assembly elections will be held on May 13.
About 97 crore people are eligible to vote in this year's Lok Sabha elections. 10 lakh 50 thousand polling stations have been prepared for polling. Elections will be held in Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs. 55 lakh EVMs have been arranged for this.
This is the 18th Lok Sabha election in India. The ruling BJP wants to secure power for the third time through this election. The party secured 303 seats in the last parliamentary elections.
Whereas Congress got only 52 seats. In other words, it did not get enough numbers to claim the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. This time Congress has formed a big alliance to overthrow the BJP.
