Voting for 89 seats across 13 states will take place on April 26 in Phase 2 of Lok Sabha polls, said the Election Commission announcing the dates for polls which will be held in seven phases, billed the largest exercise of the democratic franchise in human history. The election results will be declared on June 4.
The other phases will be on April 19, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
The states where elections are being held in all seven phases are Bihar Uttar Pradesh and Bengal.
Turnout during the last national elections was more than 67 percent, with nearly 615 million people casting a ballot.
"India gets ready for celebration of democracy with 97 crore voters, 1.5 crore polling officials and 10.5 lakh polling stations. A mammoth exercise in democracy which is world's largest electoral movement of man and material. Over 55 lakh EVMs to be deployed for the exercise," said the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.
"It is our promise to deliver a national election in a manner that we... remain a beacon for democracy around the world," Mr Kumar added.
The CEC said the poll authority is prepared to counter the challenges of four "Ms" - muscle power, money power, misinformation and Model Code of Conduct violations.
"I would appeal to parties to maintain decorum during the campaign and refrain from personal attacks," Mr Kumar said.
"Verify before amplify" was the message from the top poll officer to political parties, underscoring the need to verify news and stamp out fake news from their campaigns.
"The biggest festival of democracy is here! EC has announced the 2024 Lok Sabha election dates. We, the BJP-NDA, are fully prepared for elections. We are going to the people on the basis of our track record of good governance and service delivery across sectors," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is hoping to secure a third consecutive win for his party, the BJP.
