CEC Rajiv Kumar addresses the press on Saturday

LIVE | Lok Sabha polls in 7 phases from April 19; counting on June 4

Other phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, June 1. Assembly polls in Arunachal and Sikkim on April 19, Andhra May 13, Odisha May 13, May 20, May 25, June 1

The Federal
16 March 2024 2:36 PM IST (Updated:2024-03-17 03:06:49)

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The 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases beginning April 19, and the results will be announced on June 4, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday (March 16).

The other phases will be on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will be held on April 19, and in Andhra Pradesh on May 13.

Elections to Odisha Assembly will be held in four phases on May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.

Bypolls will also be held for 26 Assembly constituencies, Kumar said at a press conference flanked by two new Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.

The counting of votes will be held on June 4.

As many as 22 states and Union Territories, including Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Delhi, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Ladakh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Telangana, and Uttarakhand will have polls on a single day.

Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tripura, and Manipur will have polls in two phases, while Chhattisgarh and Assam will have three poll dates. Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand will have the polls over four days, while Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir will have the polls in five phases. Three states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal will have the polls in seven phases.

Major parties, including the BJP and the Congress, have already announced lists of candidates for the polls.

Opinion polls predict the BJP-led NDA government to return to power, securing yet again an absolute majority in the lower house by winning over 350 of the 543 seats. The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc is expected to win 90-odd seats.

In the 2019 polls, the NDA won 303 seats while the Congress could only muster 52 seats.

To read The Federal's extensive survey-related articles and watch the panel discussions, click here.

For constituency-wise details of the 2019 elections, read The Federal's interactive story here.