Ending the wait for the festival of democracy, the Election Commission of India will announce the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 dates at 3pm today besides announcing the Assembly election dates for some states. In a post on X, a spokesperson of the ECI said, “Press Conference by Election Commission to announce the schedule for #GeneralElections2024 and some State Assemblies will be held at 3 pm tomorrow ie Saturday, 16th March. It will be live streamed on social media platforms of the ECI”. Voting likely to take place in seven to eight phases just like the previous Lok Sabha Elections.
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The election dates announcement will mark the implementation of the Mode Code of Conduct for the polls. The Election Commission’s decision to announce the poll dates comes after holding extensive talks with political parties across India. The EC team visited several states including Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier this week, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that the poll body will decide on holding Lok Sabha Elections and Assembly Elections together or separately in Jammu and Kashmir after reviewing the security situation. It’s likely that the poll body may announce the assembly dates for Jammu and Kashmir as well.
2019 Poll Dates
In 2019, Lok Sabha elections were held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 and the results were declared on May 23. The first phase of polls was held on April 11, the second on April 18, the third on April 23, the fourth on April 29, the fifth on May 6, the sixth on May 12 and the seventh on May 19. In 2019 polls, the BJP-led National Democratic (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the grand-old party behind at 52 seats.
Campaign, Candidate List
Political parties have already started announcing candidate lists and their political campaign. While the BJP has released a list of 266 candidates so far, the Congress has announced 82 candidates. Other parties like Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and Left have also announced several candidates for their respective states so far.