Lok Sabha Elections To Be Held In 7 Phases, counting starts on 23 May: Election Commission

The Lok Sabha election 2019 schedule has been announced by the Election Commission at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on 10th March 2019. On behalf of Election Commission, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora read out the dates of the national elections and also the assembly elections in four states. With the announcement of date, Model Code of Conduct also came into force.

As per the The Lok Sabha election 2019 schedule announced Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases this year, and counting will start on 23 May 2019. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3.

• Phase I-VII polling dates
• Phase I Date of Polling: April 11
• Phase II Date of Polling: April 18
• Phase III Date of polling: April 23
• Phase IV Date of Polling April 29
• Phase V Date of polling: May 6
• Phase VI Date of polling: May 12
• Phase VII Date of polling: May 19

Below are the details of all the phases:

• Phase 1 91 constituencies, 20 states
• Phase 2 97 constituencies, 13 states
• Phase 3 115 constituencies, 14 states
• Phase 4 71 constituencies, 9 states
• Phase 5 - 51 constituencies, 7 states
• Phase 6 59 constituencies, 7 states
• Phase 7 59 constituencies, 8 states

States for single phase election:

• Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Andaman, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman & Diu will be held in a single phase.
• Two phases elections will be held in Karnataka, Manipur, Rajasthan, Tripura
• Three phases: Assam, Chhattisgarh
• Four phases: Jharkhand, MP, Maharashtra, Odisha
• Five phases: Jammu & Kashmir
• Seven phases": Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal

Important details given out by Chief Election Comisioner

• Arrangements have been made to conduct fair and peaceful elections.
• As of 2019, 900 million people are registered as voters.
• 84.3 million voters have increased since 2014
• The electronic voting machines will also have photographs of candidates next to the symbol of the party.
• VVPAT machines will be used at all the polling booth.
• There will be approximately 10 lakh polling stations in this Lok Sabha Elections as compared to 9 lakh polling stations in 2014.
• Apps like cVigil, PWD app  will be used for more transparency.
• Candidates will have to provide criminal records.
• Social media vigilance is already working.
• Google, Facebook, YouTube have said all political ads will be certified.
• Videography for all polling booth.