The Election Commission (EC) on Friday said it will announce the poll schedule on Saturday for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well as simultaneous Assembly elections in a few States setting the tone and tenor for the three months long festival of democracy.
"Press Conference by the Election Commission to announce schedule for general elections 2024 & some State Assemblies will be held at 3 pm tomorrow ie on Saturday, March 16. It will be live-streamed on social media platforms of the ECI," the poll body announced.
The Pioneer had reported on Thursday that Nirvachan Sadan will share on Friday the dates for the announcements of poll schedule.
The EC will also announce the dates for the Assembly elections scheduled in Odisha, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, are also set to vote, in line with a Supreme Court order directing the conduct of Assembly polls by September 30 as the first step towards restoration of statehood.
With the announcement of poll schedules of the Lok Sabha polls, the Model Code of Conduct will come into effect as soon as the announcement is made. It is a set of guidelines issued by the EC for the political parties, candidates, Government and the party in power during the polls concerning speeches, announcements, election manifestos and general conduct.
The announcement by the EC regarding the poll schedule comes on a day the two newly-appointed Election Commissioners - Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu - assumed the charge of the Election Commissioners.
According to sources, the Lok Sabha elections are expected to be held in seven to eight phases. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, accompanied by the newly elected Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, will announce the poll dates.
The EC had ended its survey with a tour of Jammu and Kashmir this week. In a first, the poll panel has given 24-hour notice of a Press conference to announce voting dates, polling phases, and other details, including deployment of security personnel in States where post-poll violence and clashes with Maoist or rebel forces is a factor that needs to be considered.
The term of the 17th Lok Sabha is set to end on June 16 while the terms of the Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim Assemblies will end on June 11, June 2, June 24 and June 2, respectively.
Last time the Lok Sabha polls were announced on March 10 and held in seven phases beginning April 11. Votes were counted on May 23. According to EC, nearly 97 crore people are eligible to cast vote in the upcoming polls at over 12 lakh polling stations.
The upcoming Lok Sabha polls are again being dubbed as Prime Minister Narendra Modi vs the rest in the absence of a single Opposition face to counter the BJP. However, a host of leaders from both sides of the political divide are dominating the narrative in the run up to the general election.
The BJP has so far released two lists of 267 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, while the Congress announced the names of 82 candidates over two lists. For the BJP, Modi is the electoral poster boy who is already criss-crossing the country to woo voters across the States.
Regional and national parties have already begun announcing their candidates for the elections to the 543 Parliamentary constituencies.
The BJP is looking to consolidate its grip on power as it aims for a historic third term while a band of Opposition parties, including the Congress, has formed a united front called INDIA to deny PM Modi another victory. Several other regional heavyweights are also in the fray, including a bevy of topline southern parties, who are fighting to bolster their presence in the states they represent.
In 2014, BJP stormed to power by winning 282 seats in the Lok Sabha. Its coalition NDA secured 353 seats.
The Congress was reduced to just 44 seats in the Lok Sabha, its lowest ever tally in history. In terms of vote share, BJP managed to secure 31 per cent of the total votes while Congress won 19.3 per cent of the total votes cast.
In 2019, the BJP improved its tally even further, winning 303 seats in the lower house. It was the first time in over three and a half decades that a party managed to cross the 300-seat mark in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress, which was again the principal opponent, managed to improve its seat tally slightly as it won 52 seats in the general election. Notably, the BJP saw a big surge in its vote share, winning 37.3 per cent of the votes in 2019.
Besides the BJP and the Congress, regional parties like TMC, SP, AIADMK, DMK, JD(U), BSP, AAP, TDP, YSR Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP were also in the fray from their respective States.
