(Image source from: India bracing for big electoral fight)

The electoral battle begul has blown. The electoral commission of India announced that the country will go to the polls on April 7 this year. The nine-phase Lok Sabha elections will conclude on May 12. The counting of votes will take place on May 16 and the results will be announced on the same day.

Being hailed as one of the most significant elections in decades, countrywide parliamentary election will be held in as many as 525 constituencies in just 6 days. The remaining 18 constituencies will go to poll in the next three days. Voting will take place in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana , Orissa and Sikkim simultaneously.

The Naxal-affected constituencies of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Bihar will vote on April 10, April 17 and April 24. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, polling will take place in six days while voting in West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir will be held across five days.

EC officials considered a wad of factors like school examinations, holidays, festivals (mainly Bihu in Assam), harvest season, monsoon, availability of security forces and time taken by them to move from one state to another before announcing the crucial poll dates.

 

“Keeping in view the interests of the students and also the fact that polling stations are mostly located in school buildings and teachers are engaged as polling personnel, the commission has consciously factored in the examination schedules of various state boards, including the Central Board of Secondary Education, in the process of finalising the poll dates,” said Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath.

A whopping 81.4 crore voters, 10 crore more than the last Lok Sabha polls, will cast their votes this time. According to EC officials, there been a significant rise in the number of voters enrolment between 18 to 19 years of age this time.

List of Election Dates Across States

Arunachal Pradesh: April 9
Assam: April 7, 12 and 24
Bihar: April 10, 17, 24, 30, May 7 and 12
Chhattisgarh: April 10, 17, 24
Goa: April 17
Gujarat: April 30
Haryana: April 10
Himachal Pradesh: May 7
J&K: april 10, 17, 24, 30, may 7
Jharkhand: April 10, 17, 24
Karnataka: April 17
Kerala: April 10
MP: April 10, 17, 24
Maharashtra: April 10, 17 24
Manipur: April 9, 17
Meghalaya: April 9
Mizoram: April 9
Nagaland: April 9
Odisha: April 10, 17
Punjab: April 30
Rajasthan: April 17, 24
Sikkim: April 12
Tamil Nadu: April 24
Tripura: April 7 and 12
Uttar Pradesh: April 10, 17, 24, 30, May 7 and 12
Uttarkhand: May 7
West Bengal: April 17, 24, 30, May 7, 12
Andaman and Nicobar Islands: April 10
Chandigarh: April 12
Dadra and Nagar Haveli: April 12
Daman and Diu: April 30
Lakshwadeep: April 10
Puducherry: April 24

AW: Suchorita Choudhury