NEW DELHI: The 2024 Lok Sabha election process was set rolling on Saturday with the Election Commission announcing dates for polls. Voting will be held in 7 phases starting from April 19. The results will be announced on June 4. With the announcement of election dates, the model code of conduct comes into immediate effect.
Voting for the first phase of polls will be held on April 19 and will cover 102 Lok Sabha seats.
The second phase voting will be held on April 26 for 89 seats and the third phase on May 7 for 94 seats. The fourth phase voting will be on May 13 for 96 seats and 5th phase on May 20 for 49 seats. The 6th and the 7th phase of voting will be held on May 25 and June 1 respectively for 57 seats each.
Voting for Lok Sabha elections will be held in 7 phases in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. It will be 5-phase elections in Maharashtra and J&K and 4-phase polls in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Chhattisgarh and Assam will see three-phase voting while Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tripura and Manipur will have voting in two phases. 22 states will see voting for Lok Sabha elections in one phase.
A total of 96.8 crore voters are eligible to vote in Lok Sabha elections. Of them, 1.82 crore are first-time voters and 19.47 crore are voters between the age group of 20-29 years. “The Election Commission has set up 10.5 lakh poll booths which will be manned by 1.5 crore polling officials and security staff. A total of 55 lakh EVMs have been prepared for the voting process.
CEC Rajiv Kumar listed – muscle power, money influence, misinformation and fake news and model code violations – as four major challenges in the conduct of free and fair elections. The poll panel issued a stern warning against violence.
The CEC also advised political parties to focus on issue-based campaigning and urged them to avoid personal attacks and not cross the red line. The campaigners must keep in mind the guidelines under model code of conduct and ensure that they are not breached, CEC Rajiv Kumar said. He said 2100 election observers have been appointed to oversee free and fair elections. The CEC warned poll officials of ruthless action if they breach the rules set for fair polls.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance managed to reach 352 mark while the Congress-led United Progressive Allince could manage only 91 seats.
Among the regional parties, Trinamool Congress with 22 seats, DMK with 10 seats, YSRCP with 22 seats and JD(U) with 16 seats were the significant winners in their respective states.
The tenure of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 16 and a new House will have to be constituted before that. The tenure of Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Odisha assemblies will also end in June.
The BJP, led by Prime Minister Modi, has set for itself a target of 370 seats. PM Modi has claimed that the BJP-led NDA will cross 400 seats this time. The saffron party has already announced nearly 300 candidates. It has gone all out to expand the NDA by joining hands with several regional parties.
The Congress, on the other hand, faces an uphill task as it tries to better its performance, which has been dismal in the last two elections. It has plyaed a key role in stitching together an alliance of opposition parties under the banner of INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance). However, the alliance has faced several hurdles and in many states, the partners have failed to finalise the seat-sharing agreement till now.
