New Delhi, Mar. 16-
Election Commission has announced the schedule for upcoming elections to Lok Sabha and Andhra, Odisha, Arunachal and Sikkim assemblies.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 will be held in 7 phases from 19th April and the counting of votes will be done on June 4. Andhra Pradesh and Odisha assembly elections will be held on May 13 and Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim assembly polls will be conducted on April 19. Talking about the scale of elections, CEC Rajiv Kumar said, “We have 97 crore registered voters, more than combined voters of a few continents. Over 10.5 lakh polling stations, 1.5 crore polling officials, security officials. More than 55 lakh EVMs, 4 lakh vehicles.”
He further said, “We have 1.8 crore first-time voters and 19.47 crore voters between the age group of 20-29 years.” With Union home ministry having agreed to “more or less” match EC’s demand for 3,400 companies of central forces comprising around 3.4 lakh personnel to watch over the elections, India could see voting over 6-7 phases, possibly starting in third week of April. Polling may be spread over a little more than a month, with results likely in late May. Nearly 97 crore people are eligible to cast their votes in over 12 lakh polling stations.
The 2019 Lok Sabha elections were held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 and the results were declared on May 23.
