Lok Sabha 543 seats
Phases: 7 Voting
Dates:
1. April 19
2. April 26
3.May 7
4.May 13
5. May 20
6. May 25
7. June 1
Counting: June 4
Phase 1: The polls will be held on 19th of April for a total of 21 states and union territories. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Union territories A&N island, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, DDN& H, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, HP, Haryana, Ladakh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Punjab, Uttarakhand to go to polls on Phase 1.
Number of constituencies -102
Phase 2: 13 states to go to polls in Phase 2.
Number of constituencies - 89
Phase 3: 12 states to go to polls in Phase 3.
Number of constituencies -94
Phase 4: 10 states to go polls in phase 4.
Number of constituencies - 96
Phase 5: Eight states to go to polls in Phase 5
Number of constituencies - 49
Phase 6: Seven states to go to polls in this phase.
Number of constituencies - 57
Phase 7: Eight states to go to polls in this phase.
Number of constituencies - 57
On the question of whether EVMs are reliable, the CEC says over 40 cases were heard and rejected by various courts in this country. The courts have repeatedly said EVMs are fool-proof, Kumar said.
On charges of alleged partisan verdicts by ECI on MCC violations, Rajiv Kumar rejected the charge saying all complaints have been attended too.
“Last time we had a moral sensor. This time we will be stricter,” he added.
CEC on electoral bonds:
"We are always in favor of complete transparency. In a democracy, there is no space for hiding things," Kumar said.
"How we control donation in unnaccounted is something the entire nation has to work on. How donor's privacy is protected and he's not harassed, " he added.
On resignation of EC Arun Goel, the CEC said, " In every institution, someone will have to be given personal space. one should not be insensitive and ask personal questions."
Strict action will be taken on violators:
Howsoever high a campaigner he or she will be, we will not sit back, we will take action against CEC on Modi violating MCC: Rajiv Kumar
Nearly 970 million people are eligible to cast a vote at over 1.2 million polling stations, making the polls the largest democratic exercise in the world.
The number of eligible voters is almost four times the number of voters in the next largest democracy, the United States, and is also more than the entire population of Europe.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that voters older than 85 years of age will be allowed to vote from home. He also said that minimum basic facilities like drinking water and toilets will be made available at all polling booths.
Rajiv Kumar said that a total of 1.5 crore poll officers in 10.5 lakh polling stations set up. The poll panel readies 55 lakh EVMs for the LS polls.
Election expenditure for each candidate can go up to Rs90 lakhs for Lok Sabha and Rs38 lakhs for Assembly elections.
Assembly By-elections schedule: CEC Rajiv Kumar announces schedule of bye-elections in 26 Assembly Constituencies
" This time, we will go beyond issuing notices for code violations," Rajiv Kumar said. "We will look at their history," he added.
We have issued advisories to editors about paid news and no advertisements can be shown without disclosures, the poll panel Chief said.
He requested the political parties not to cross the red-line during the campaign, adding that," No one can evade detection in the era of social media."
CEC warns against using making children a part of the election campaigns. We will be ruthless to the rulebreakers, Rajiv Kumar said.
He appealed to the political parties to maintain decorum in campaigning and refrain from personal attacks.
All chartered flights will be checked for illegal goods, and cash. Airports, Railway stations will be monitered continuously.
The Election Commission announced that as many as 96.88 crore registered voters will be exercising their franchise in the upcoming elections, of which, approximately 47.15 crore are women.
The announcement of the polls were made by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. New Commissioners Gyanendra Kumar and Sukbir Singh Sandhu, who assumed office on March 15, were also present.
The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will kick in after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election date 2024 which means that the political parties, candidates, and government must work under the stipulated guidelines of the Election Commission of India (ECI) around their speeches, announcements, election manifestos etc.
Ahead of the announcement, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said, "It is an important day. The country will get the general elections schedule at 3pm today."
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar arrives at Election Commission of India headquarters in Delhi, just a few hours ahead of the election schedule announcement.
While addressing a public meeting in Telangana on Saturday, PM Modi said, “The election dates (for Lok Sabha polls 2024) will be announced in Delhi in some time. However, people of the country have already announced the results even before the election dates are officially announced. The country has announced 'abki baar 400 paar', and the crowd here at Nagarkurnool is a testimony to that.”
The Election Commission announced that as many as 96.88 crore registered voters will be exercising their franchise in the upcoming elections, of which, approximately 47.15 crore are women.
Similarly , as many as 1.84 crore electors fall within the 18-19 years age group and 19.74 crore electors fall within the 20-29 years age group.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that the poll body will decide on holding Lok Sabha Elections and Assembly Elections together or separately in Jammu and Kashmir after reviewing the security situation.
In 2019, the Lok Sabha poll dates were announced on March 10. The polling was held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha.
This time, nearly 970 million people are eligible to cast a vote at over 1.2 million polling stations, making the polls the largest democratic exercise in the world.
The number of eligible voters is almost four times the number of voters in the next largest democracy, the United States, and is also more than the entire population of Europe.
In 2019, the BJP won 303 seats while the Congress got 52 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party encashed electoral bonds worth ₹6060 crore between April 2019 and February 2024.
As per the data shared by the Election Commission, the ruling party encashed electoral bonds worth ₹1771 crore during the Lok Sabha elections. More recently, the BJP redeemed bonds worth more than ₹200 crore in the first 24 days of January, ahead of the general elections. The BJP encashed electoral bonds worth ₹110 crore on January 12 and another ₹35 crore on January 17. The party utilised bonds worth ₹50 crore a day later, followed by a final tranche of ₹6 crore on January 24.
Promises galore during poll season and the Lok Sabha elections would be no different with "guarantees" from various political parties set to compete during the high-decibel campaign.
Elections are often won or lost on narratives and it is the issues that connect on the ground which decides the fate of the political parties.
Here is a look at the 10 key issues that are likely to be talked about during the poll campaign by various political parties.
Seven states are set to hold Assembly polls in 2024, with four states, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim, simultaneously holding elections with the Lok Sabha polls.
The Assemblies in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand will go to polls towards the end of the year.
In Odisha too, the NDA and INDIA bloc are minor players with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in power. In Sikkim, the INDIA bloc has no presence with NDA members holding 31 of the 32 Assembly seats.
In Andhra Pradesh, neither the INDIA bloc nor the NDA alliance have any seats in the current Assembly, which is dominated by the ruling YSRCP and the Telugu Desam Party.
In the 60-member Arunachal Assembly, the INDIA bloc has just four MLAs compared to the NDA’s 49.
