TOI
New Delhi, Mar 2: The much-awaited schedule for the Lok Sabha elections was announced on Monday afternoon, by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami.
The country will go to polls from April 16 to May 13. Counting of votes will be done on May 16 and the 15th Lok Sabha will be constituted by June two.
Polls will be conducted in 124 constituencies on April 16, 141 constituencies on April 23, 107 constituencies on April 30, 85 constituencies on May 7 and 86 constrituencies on May 13.
Five-phased polls will be held in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar will have four-phased elections, Maharashtra and West Bengal will witness three-phased polls, while Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Punjab will have elections in two phases, N Gopalaswami announced at a press conference.
Remaining 15 states and seven union territories will have one-day polling.
Treating Manipur as an exception, polls will be conducted in the state on April 22, considering April 23 is a local holiday there.
Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Orissa will simultaneously hold assembly polls.
On Sunday, the President rejected the controversial recommendation by the Chief Election Commissioner for the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla. The President’s decision will now pave the way for Chawla’s elevation as CEC after Gopalaswami demits office on April 20.
The Election Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami decided the dates of the general elections after completing consultation process with political leaders, home secretary and secretaries of key ministries.
Earlier in the day, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) led by Ajit Singh announced its entry into the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The RLD will have a poll pact with the main NDA constituent the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In a late development on Sunday, the Trinamool Congress formed an alliance with Congress in West Bengal to fight the Lok Sabha elections against the Left Front.