NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India(ECI) on Saturday announced the dates for the 18th Lok Sabha elections in a press conference held at Vigyan Bhawan. The ‘Great Indian’ election will be held in seven phases from April 19. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with newly appointed Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu attended the press conference.
Counting of votes will be held on June 4 and the results will also be announced on the same date. By-elections to be held in 26 states will be conducted in parallel with the parliamentary elections. Elections are being held for 543 Lok Sabha seats. In Kerala, the Lok Sabha election will be held on April 26. Kerala will vote in the second phase of the LS poll elections
Along with the Lok Sabha elections, the dates for assembly elections in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim have also been announced. Assembly elections will be held in Sikkim on April 19, while Arunachal, Odisha and Andhra will vote on May 13. Odisha will have two phases.
In many places, candidates have already finished the first phase of campaigning while there also exist constituencies where national parties have hitherto not selected any candidates.
About 97 crore people are eligible to vote in the Lok Sabha elections. According to the Election Commission, 1.84 crore voters are in the age group of 18 to 19 years and 19.74 crore voters are in the age group of 20 to 29 years. This time there are 47.15 crore female voters and 49.7 crore male voters. 1.8 crore maiden voters will also cast their votes this time.
There are also 48,000 transgender voters. A humungous number of 10.5 lakh polling booths will be set up in the country. The Election Commission informed that the booths will have all the facilities including toilets, drinking water and wheelchairs. There will also be the facility of ‘vote from home’ for senior citizens above age 85 and also for people physically challenged above 40%. ECI exhumed confidence saying all works have been inspected and assured that they are fully prepared to conduct one of the biggest democratic exercises in the world.