Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced the dates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections today. The polls will be held in 7 phases, beginning from April 19 and ending on June 1. The results will be declared on June 4. No simultaneous polls will be held, he said. The assembly polls for Andhra Pradesh will be on May 13, Sikkim on April 19, Arunachal Pradesh on April 19, and Odisha will be held on May 13. In a press conference today, the Election Commission said it is working towards combating the 4Ms (muscle, money, misinformation, and MCC violations) that hinder the path to free and fair elections.
Around 97 crore people are eligible to vote in the upcoming polls. 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. 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 the four state assemblies will also end in June.
In the last parliamentary polls, the BJP, seeking a third consecutive term this time, won 303 seats, while the Congress got 52 seats. The upcoming polls are extremely crucial for the Opposition bloc INDIA, fighting to stop the BJP's run.