Lok Sabha election 2024 date updates | Voting to be held from April 19 in 7 phases, results to be announced on June 4

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has said that the upcoming elections should have been completed in three or four phases. He said, “We are not anxious about what is going to happen, but Modiji putting seven phases, means that he wants to tour everywhere.” 

He said this would stop nearly all development works. “Stopping nearly 70-80 days, imagine how the country will progress? Because of the election code of conduct...materials will not be supplied. Budget will not be spent. So according to me, this is not good,” he said. -PTI

BJP president J.P. Nadda says his party will come back to power with an overwhelming majority. In a post on X, he said, “Under the leadership of respected Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, the BJP will form the government with an overwhelming majority and will work with determination to fulfill the aspirations of the people for the next 5 years.” 

“All parties in Jammu and Kashmir said the Assembly election should be held with the parliamentary polls, but the entire administrative machinery said it cannot be done simultaneously. Every Assembly segment would have 10-12 candidates, which would mean more than 1,000 candidates. Every candidate has to be provided forces. It was not possible at this time,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said.

On the declaration of election poll dates, Delhi Minister & AAP leader Gopal Rai says, “Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) welcomes the announcement of general election dates. AAP is well and fully prepared. Together with the INDIA Alliance, we will fight the election with full strength...People are watching each and everything. This festival of election is the medium through which people can raise their voices....”

-ANI

“The truth is that it is unusually long. I have now contested three elections and in all cases we were done and dusted by mid-May. If that’s the arrangement, then we have to learn to live with it,” says Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on the 2024 Lok Sabha election schedule.

The Trinamool Congress said the Election Commission did not take into account the West Bengal government’s views as seven-phase Lok Sabha polls were announced for the 42 seats in the state.

TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray claimed that this was a disregard for the federal structure of the country.

“State government’s views were not taken into account. This is a disregard for the federal structure. We fail to understand the reasons for holding such a long election. This is quite surprising,” he said.

-PTI

The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is a set of guidelines published by the Election Commission of India (EC) for political parties and candidates to set standards of conduct during the election campaign and polling.

Any complaint regarding elections should be brought to EC observers, Returning Officer, local magistrate, Chief Electoral Officer or the Election Commission itself. In response, any directions issued by the EC, Returning officer, District Election Officer shall be strictly complied with.

The Election Commission has notified a scheme to allow people of violence-torn Manipur who have been displaced and are currently living in camps to vote from the camp. A similar scheme is available in Jammu and Kashmir, the CEC said.

Twelve states have more women voters than men, with a total of 47.1 crore females registered in the electoral roll in the country, the Election Commission said. 

“There are 12 such states where the gender ratio is over 1000 which means that number of women voters is more than males and 1.89 crore new voters have joined, out of them in the age group of 18-19 years there are 85.3 lakh women electors so they are going side by side so that is a very healthy sign that women are also participating equally in our elections,” he said.

The CEC, answering a question on why J&K elections are not being held now, said that there would be approximately 1,000 candidates who would fight the polls and would require at least 2 station forces. Saying that this exercise would put a strain on security forces, the CEC said that the Election Commission is committed to holding elections in J&K.

“The J&K reorganisation Act and Delimitation Act were not in sync. This was set right only in Dec 2023, when the J7K reorganisation Amendment Act was passed. Hence we are not able to conduct it together with the general elections,” he said.

7 phases necessary keeping in mind geographic conditions, festivals, exams and other factors, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on the schedule of Lok Sabha eelctions

A constituency in Manipur will have elections twice, which will take overall Lok Sabha seats to 544 instead of 543, CEC Rajiv Kumar said.

On the question of whether EVMs are reliable, the CEC says over 40 cases were heard and rejected by various courts in this country. 

The courts have repeatedly said EVMs are fool-proof, Mr. Kumar says.

On charges of alleged partisan verdicts by ECI on MCC violations, Mr. Kumar rejects the charge saying all complaints have been attended too. 

“Last time we had a moral sensor. This time we will be stricter,” he added.

Number of constituencies - 57

Date of issue of notification - May 7

Last date of nomination - May 14

Date of scrutiny of nominations - May 15

Last of withdrawal of candidature - May 17

Polling date - June 1

Counting of votes - June 4

Number of constituencies - 57

Date of issue of notification - April 29

Last date of nomination - May 6

Date of scrutiny of nominations - May 7

Last of withdrawal of candidature - May 9

Polling date - May 25

Counting of votes - June 4

Number of constituencies - 49

Date of issue of notification - April 26

Last date of nomination - May 3

Date of scrutiny of nominations - May 4

Last of withdrawal of candidature - May 6

Polling date - May 20

Counting of votes - June 4

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General elections to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly will be held on 13 May, 2024. Date of counting to be on 4 June, 2024

“I would like to appeal to the voters - elections belong to you. We are handing over the baton to you. Please vote,” the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar says.

He appeals to the political parties to maintain decorum while campaigning and refrain from abuse and personal attacks

The CEC, issuing an advisory to political parties, urged them to refrain from personal attacks and foul language. 

“No-go areas in speeches are defined to maintain civility.Let’s not cross lines in our rivalry,” the CEC said.

“Tackling misinformation in today’s digital age is complex,” the CEC said.

The EC has put certain measures in place to ensure misinformation is nipped in the bud. 

“We’re proactive in debunking fake news. Originators of fake news will be dealt with severely as per extant laws,” Mr. Kumar added.

To address the second challenge in the 4Ms, which is money, the EC has held extensive reviews with enforcement agencies to curb flow of illicit money. 

Measures like ESMs portal, coordination between agencies has resulted in exponential increase seizures in last 11 elections, CEC Rajiv Kumar said.

“In the 2022-23 election cycle, cash seizure surged over 800% to Rs 3,400 crore in 11 states compared to five years ago. Enforcement agencies are directed to crackdown on illicit money, liquor, drugs, and freebies, staying vigilant against disruptive methods,” he added.

Strict directions have been given to DMs & SPs to ensure level playing field. CAPF will be deployed adequately & assisted by Integrated control rooms in each district, the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said. 

Check posts and drones will be deployed to ensure vigil, he added.

“Ensuring voters’ trust is paramount. Violence in elections is unacceptable. Impersonators to be swiftly punished. Transparency in permissions to parties/candidates through SUVIDHA portal,” he said.

“The challenges in conducting free and fair elections are four-fold, 4Ms - Muscle, money, misinformation and violation of model code of conduct,” Mr. Kumar said.

ECI is committed and has put in place measures to deal with these disruptive challenges, he added.

Talking about senior citizens, CEC Rajiv Kumar said citizens over 80 years, persons with disabilities can vote from home using Form 12D. However, if they want to visit the polling booth, ramps and wheelchairs are available. 

“He talks about urban apathy. We create booths for even five persons, we travel across length and breadth, cover jungles, snow and desert. But some don’t vote even if the polling booth is below their homes,” Mr. Kumar added.

“We have a rigorous process to ensure electoral rolls are inclusive, pure and healthy,” CEC Rajiv Kumar said.

Every polling station will be equipped with drinking water, toilets, sufficient light, and other facilities, the CEC added.

“We have 97 crore registered voters, over 10.5 lakh polling stations manned by 1.5 crore personnel, 55 lakh EVMs,” the Election Commission said.

“1.2 crore first-time voters will be exercising their franchise for the first time. Over 82 lakh voters are over 80 years, out of which over 2 lakh are centurions,” CEC Rajiv Kumar added. 

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar delivered his opening remarks ahead of announcing the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“2024 is the year of elections across the globe. Over 5 dozen nations will vote this year. However, India is a pole star”, he said.

“Our team is now complete, we are fully prepared for biggest festival of Indian democracy”, he added.

The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha election shortly.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday released a campaign song titled, ‘Mai Modi ka parivar hun’, showcasing his commitment to all.

In a post on X, PM Modi shared the video and wrote, “Mera Bharat, Mera Parivaar.”

The campaign song ‘Main Modi Ka Parivar hu’ described how India’s situation has become better after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister.

The three minute, 13 second long video potrays the PM with beneficiaries of government schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Har Ghar Nal Scheme, and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana among others.

-ANI

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday promised to pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs, and a comprehensive social, economic and caste census.

The promises are part of another five guarantees, each for ‘Shramik Nyay’ and ‘Hissedari Nyay’ announced by the party on Saturday.

“The Congress Party guarantees a comprehensive social, economic and caste census. Through this, the population, socio-economic condition of all castes and communities, their share in national wealth and their representation in institutions related to governance will be surveyed,” Kharge said, listing out guarantees under ‘Hissedari Nyay’.

He said this affirmative action policy will bring in a revolutionary change in the country.

“The Congress also guarantees that it will pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservation for SC, ST and OBC...50 per cent may go to 60, 65. Like Tamil Nadu, what they did, we want to do,” Kharge added.

-PTI

Just hours ahead of the notification of the Parliamentary election schedule, the LDF government in Kerala on Saturday announced increasing the rubber subsidy to Rs 180 as announced in the state budget.

Further, Rs 628 crore has been sanctioned towards pension arrears.

State Finance Minister K N Balagopal said the state government has implemented the Rubber Production Incentive Scheme in view of the fall in prices of natural rubber.

The government had on February 5 announced in the assembly that in the budget for 2024-25, the subsidy amount for rubber has been increased by Rs 10 from Rs 170 per kg. It had said the same would come into effect from April 1.

-PTI

The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP on Saturday announced the list of candidates for all the 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh.

Bapatla MP Nandigam Suresh read out the names of the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections while Revenue Minister D Prasada Rao did so for the Assembly polls.

As per the list, B Jhansi Laxmi will contest from the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency while G Uma Bala be the candidate in Narasapuram and V Vijayasai Reddy will try his luck from Nellore.

As expected, incumbent MP Y S Avinash Reddy will contest from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency.

-PTI

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has given a proposal for four seats to Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to reporters, Raut said, “Out of a list of 27 seats the VBA gave us, we have sent them a proposal for four seats. We have asked Ambedkar to consider the four-seat offer and let us know what more they want. Our doors are open to the VBA.” MVA leaders held a meeting with senior Congress leaders from Delhi last night. However, representatives of the VBA remained absent, having participated in the talks earlier.

-PTI

Addressing a BJP rally at Nagarkurnool in Telangana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Telangana rally on March 16 said that even before the announcement of poll schedule, people have given their decision on NDA crossing 400 seats.

“Today I see here that Telangana people have decided they want to bring back Modi for third time,” he said.

Congress gave slogan of ‘Garibi Hatao’, has there been any change in the lives of poor, the Prime Minister asked.

On Friday evening, the country’s biggest parliament constituency of Malkajgiri was awash with saffron flags and festoons and gained national limelight when PM Modi conducted the ‘Vijay Sankalp’ Road for almost an hour atop a flower-bedecked vehicle kicking off the election campaign for the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana.

Former Congress MP from Alwar, Karan Singh Yadav, joined the BJP in Jaipur on Saturday.

Along with him, several other Congress leaders also joined the saffron party.

Punjab Chief Minister and AAP leader Bhagwant Mann said his party will seek votes on the basis of works undertaken by his government in the state in the last two years.

Asked about the AAP’s preparation for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Mann said his party will seek votes on the basis of works undertaken in the past two years.

About his government’s works, he pointed towards opening of 829 ‘aam aadmi clinics’, giving more than 42,000 government jobs, receiving investments worth Rs 65,000 crore in the state, opening of ‘Schools of Eminence’, 300 units of free electricity and buying of a private thermal power plant.

-PTI

In a setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Pratap Singh said on March 16 he is resigning from the primary membership of the party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The Madhya Pradesh MP sent his resignation to BJP president J. P. Nadda and State president V. D. Sharma. Mr. Singh took to social media platform X to post his letter of resignation. 

Upset at being denied a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Barrackpore, Trinamool Congress leader Arjun Singh on Thursday said he would join the BJP on Friday. 

The development at Barrackpore, ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is similar to what had occurred ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when after being denied ticket by the Trinamool Congress, Mr. Singh joined the BJP and contested the polls on the saffron party ticket. He returned to the Trinamool Congress in May 2022. The Barrackpore MP, who had defeated Trinamool candidate Dinesh Trivedi in 2019 by a margin of about 13,000 votes, expressed his desire to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the same seat on a BJP ticket.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena says that a posse of around 1.6 lakh security personnel including the forces from the State and Centre is needed to ensure smooth conduct of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the State.

In total 31 strong rooms have been set t up to store EVMs after the polling till the counting. The strong Rooms will be under the surveillance of a three-tier security comprising the CAPF, State Armed Police and the district police, he added.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress party MLA and the deputy leader of the Opposition in Punjab Raj Kumar Chabbewal on Friday quit the party and joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Mr. Chabbewal, a prominent Dalit leader was inducted into the party by AAP state president and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann here. Mr. Chabbewal said he has quit as a legislator from the Chabbewal assembly constituency in Hoshiarpur district. Mr. Chabbewal is likely to be fielded from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat by the AAP, said sources.

The BJP is targeting young and first-time voters with engaging short videos centred around the Modi government’s initiatives in a variety of sectors including education, health, communication and start-ups, party leaders said on Thursday.

The ruling party is using social media extensively to reach the young voters and recently launched a website (pehlavotemodiko.bjp.org) as part of its campaign to engage with them and seek their support during the polls, the schedule of which is expected to be announced soon.

Assam MP and former journalist Abdul Khaleque on Friday resigned from the primary membership of Congress after the party declined to field him again from the Barpeta parliamentary constituency.

In a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, he said Congress attracted him 25 years ago because of its ideologies and the “selfless sacrifice” of its leaders leading to the country’s independence.

The minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Assam’s third largest party, on March 15 announced its list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

A statement issued by the AIUDF said the party’s founder-president, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal will seek re-election from the Dhubri seat for the fourth consecutive term. 

The AIUDF nominated legislator Aminul Islam for the Nagaon seat and Sahabul Islam Choudhury for the Karimganj seat. The two seats are currently held by Pradyut Bordoloi of Congress and Kripanath Mallah of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Samajwadi Party (SP) declared six of its candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming parliamentary polls. The SP announced the candidature of Yashveer Singh from Bijnor, Bijendra Singh from Aligarh, Manoj Kumar from Nagina, Daroga Saroj from Lalganj, Bhanu Pratap Singh from Meerut and Jasveer Valmiki from Hathras.

The Congress on Tuesday announced its second list of 43 Lok Sabha candidates across five States and one Union Territory, with party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal stating that 76.7% of the candidates belonged to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and minorities.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared a campaign video “Main Modi Ka Parivar Hun” ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections.

The musical video highlights people benefitting from various welfare schemes, ranging from those for farmers to poor households, as they pledge their support to the prime minister, saying they are Modi’s family.

“Mere Bharat, Mera Parivar,” he said on X while sharing the video.

As India heads to Lok Sabha elections, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh expressed hope from the first-time voters of Jammu & Kashmir.Speaking to ANI, the Union Minister said “We have expectations from all first-time voters. The picture has drastically changed since 2014. This city was so deprived of roads that folk songs were made in Dogri.”“In the last 10 years, roads were constructed in Udhampur under PMGSY. Three medical colleges have opened. A radio station and even a passport office have now opened up here,” he added.On March 1, the saffron party announced Dr. Jitender Singh will contest Lok Sabha polls from Udhampur and Jugal Kishor Sharma from Jammu. ANI

Ahead of the announcement of the schedule for Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a BJP rally at Nagarkurnool in Telangana today.

Mr. Modi held a roadshow in the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency Friday evening. He would attend another rally at Jagtial in the State on March 18, Telangana BJP has said. PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi would formally kickstart the BJP’s Lok Sabha election campaign in Karnataka today from Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s home turf — Kalaburagi.

He is scheduled to address a mega public meeting at the district headquarters town’s NV Ground at 2 p.m.

Mr. Kharge, who had represented Kalaburagi (Gulbarga Lok Sabha segment) twice in the past, lost to BJP’s Umesh Jadhav by a margin of 95,452 votes in the 2019 general elections — the octogenarian leader’s first electoral loss in his political life spanning several decades. PTI

Election results in the three Hindi heartland States of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are being widely celebrated in ruling circles as a resounding semi-final victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed it a “hat trick” and claimed it to be the harbinger of another “hat trick in 2024”.

​Read here​

The BJP on Wednesday released its second list of candidates for the coming ​Lok Sabha polls​, featuring Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari contesting from Nagpur, Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad and Piyush Goyal, who is also the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, from Mumbai North.

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