The general election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases from April 19, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on Saturday. The counting will be held on June 4. The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates for Lok Sabha and four state Assembly elections. CEC Rajiv Kumar said that strict directions have been given to District Magistrates and SPs to ensure level playing field. CAPF to be deployed adequately & assisted by Integrated control rooms in each district. Check posts & drones to ensure vigil. Assembly polls will be held in Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha. Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh & Odisha will vote on 13 May while Arunachal Pradesh & Sikkim on 19 April.
Watch Live Press Briefing:
3.42pm: Cash movement worth around Rs 3,400 was restricted in the last 11 state assembly elections in Rajasthan, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Tripura. This shows an increase of 835%: CEC
3.40pm: The CEC issued SOP to stop spread of fake news.
3.35pm: There is no place for bloodbath and violence in the elections...From wherever we will receive the information of violence, we will take action against them, said CEC.
3.20pm: We have 1.8 crore first-time voters and 19.47 crore voters between the age group of 20-29 years: CEC.
3.15pm: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar says, "In 12 states the ratio of women voters is higher than men voters.
3.10 pm: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar says, "We have a total of 96.8 crore electors.
3.05pm: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar says, "We have 97 crore registered voters, 10.5 lakhs polling stations, 1.5 crores polling officials and security staff, 55 lakhs EVMs, 4 lakhs vehicles."
The election dates announcement will mark the implementation of the Mode Code of Conduct for the polls. The Election Commission's decision to announce the poll dates comes after holding extensive talks with political parties across India. The EC team visited several states including Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir.
2019 Poll Dates
In 2019, Lok Sabha elections were held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 and the results were declared on May 23. The first phase of polls was held on April 11, the second on April 18, the third on April 23, the fourth on April 29, the fifth on May 6, the sixth on May 12 and the seventh on May 19. In 2019 polls, the BJP-led National Democratic (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the grand-old party behind at 52 seats.
Campaign, Candidate List
Political parties have already started announcing candidate lists and their political campaign. While the BJP has released a list of 266 candidates so far, the Congress has announced 82 candidates. Other parties like Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and Left have also announced several candidates for their respective states so far.
