Lok Sabha Polls: From Dates To Key Initiatives, Top Announcements Of Election Commission

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Election Commission on Saturday announced the schedule of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In its announcement, the apex poll body said that the general assembly polls will be conducted from April 19 to June 1, 2024. The Lok Sabha elections are slated to be held in seven phases. The counting of votes for the 18th Lok Sabha elections will be held on June 4. 

Polling will be held in all seven phases in three states: Bihar, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh, while Maharashtra will vote in five phases. Madhya Pradesh will witness voting in four phases. Karnataka and Rajasthan will go to the polls in two phases, while Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh will vote in a single phase.

In a press conference held in the national capital, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar also announced the polling dates for assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim.

Lok Sabha Elections Dates Announcement: Here Are Key Highlights 

• In the first phase of the polls, voting is scheduled to be conducted for 102 constituencies across 21 states and Union Territories on April 19, 2024. In Phase 2 voting will be held on April 26, 2024, for 89 seats across 13 states and Union Territories. As far as the third phase is concerned, it will cover 94 seats across 12 states and Union Territories and the polling will take place on May 7, 2024.
• The fourth phase will witness voting in 96 constituencies on May 13, 2024, across 10 states and Union Territories. The fifth phase will cover 49 seats in 8 states and Union Territories on May 20, 2024.
• Phase 6 of the Lok Sabha polls is set to take place on May 25, 2024, for 57 seats across 7 states and Union Territories. In the seventh phase on June 1, 2024, as many as 57 constituencies will be covered across 8 states and Union Territories.
• The voting for assembly elections will take place in Arunachal Pradesh on April 19, Andhra Pradesh on May 13, Odisha on May 13 and 20, and in Sikkim on April 19. 
• The Election Commission said that approximately 97 crore Indians would be eligible to vote in this year’s Lok Sabha elections, representing a 6% increase in registered voters since 2019. 
• During the press conference, CEC Rajiv Kumar outlined the main challenges going forward, which he referred to as ‘the 4Ms’. He categorised the challenges facing the Election Commission into four main areas: Money power, Muscle power, Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations, and Misinformation.
• Rajiv Kumar also said that the poll panel has a ‘Know Your Candidate’ or KYC app that will enable voters to find out if a candidate nominated from his constituency has any criminal antecedents. The CEC stated that political parties that nominate candidates with criminal backgrounds would have to explain the rationale behind the decision while the candidates themselves would have to put all relevant information in the public domain.
• Calling on the voters to exercise vigilance and help the poll panel “clean up the system”, Rajiv Kumar said, “We have also rolled out cVigil app which enable voters to report any cases of cash distribution or inducements to the commission. All they have to do is to take a photo of the incident or type text and send it to us. We will capture the location of the person concerned and will send across a team within 100 minutes to take appropriate action.”
• The CEC said children should not be used in campaigning and the poll watchdog will be very strict on that account. He also said advertisements masquerading as news will not be allowed.

The CEC also expressed concern over the “plummeting level of public discourse,” saying the poll panel has been noticing several trends that are at work, destabilising the decorum of the political discourse during campaigning.

Kumar said that, as per Model Code of Conduct provisions, the use of provocative and inflammatory statements, the use of intemperate and abusive language transgressing the limits of decency, and attacks on the personal character and conduct of political rivals vitiate the level playing field. The poll panel has also issued an advisory on the plummeting level of public discourse.