Election Commission to announce Lok Sabha poll schedule at 5 pm today
The Election Commission of India is set to announce the poll schedule for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Sunday. The commission is slated to hold a press conference at 5 pm, during which the much-awaited election dates will be specified. Earlier, a report with the Press Trust of India had said the logistic preparations for the Lok Sabha polls were almost over.
The Lok Sabha elections are likely to be spread over 7-8 phases in April-May.
Sources had informed the news agency that the poll panel is in final stages of completing its logistical preparations to hold elections for the 17th Lok Sabha and a detailed polling schedule could be announced as early this weekend or by early next week.
The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3.
As soon as the elections, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his bid to return to power amid hectic parleys by several political parties to put a united fight against the ruling BJP, are announced, the model code of conduct will come into force.
Amongst other things, the code bars the government from announcing policy decisions.
Notification for the first phase could be issued by the end of March for voting some time in early April, sources suggested.
There is a strong possibility that the Election Commission may go by the precedent and hold assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh along with the Lok Sabha polls.
Since the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has been dissolved, the EC is bound to hold fresh polls there as well within a six-month period, which will end in May.
While there is a view that the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections can be held along with the Lok Sabha polls, a lot depends on the complex security situation in the state given the heightened tension along the India-Pakistan border.
The Centre and the state administration, being managed by the Centre-appointed Governor, are against holding the two elections together.
However, all political parties in the state favoured simultaneous polls during a meeting with the Election Commission earlier this week.
The J-K assembly’s six-year term was to end on March 16, 2021, but it got dissolved after a ruling coalition between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fell apart.
The other state assemblies and Lok Sabha have five-year terms.
The required electronic voting machines and paper trail machines are in place to be deployed in nearly 10 lakh poling stations across 543 Lok Sabha constituencies.
There is a high probability of the elections being spread across seven to eight phases this time.
In 2014, the EC had announced the election schedule on March 5 and the nine-phase electoral exercise was spread across April and May.
While the first phase polling was on April 7, the last phase was on May 12.
