New Delhi. The Election Commission has announced the dates of Lok Sabha elections in the country. Like the previous Lok Sabha elections held in the year 2019, this time also it has been announced to conduct Lok Sabha elections in the country in seven phases. However, phase wise changes in dates and the number of seats are also being seen.
According to the schedule of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 announced by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday, the Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases. Under the first phase, voting will be held on 102 Lok Sabha seats on April 19. Whereas, under the second phase 89 on April 26, under the third phase 94 on May 7, under the fourth phase 96 on May 13, under the fifth phase 49 on May 20, under the sixth phase 57 on May 25 and under the seventh phase Under this, voting will be held on 57 Lok Sabha seats on June 1. The results will be announced on June 4.
If we talk about the last Lok Sabha elections held in 2019, at that time also voting was held in seven phases only. In the year 2019, voting was held on 91 Lok Sabha seats in the first phase on 11 April. Whereas, in the second phase, 95 on 18th April, 117 in the third phase on 23rd April, 71 in the fourth phase on 29th April, 50 in the fifth phase on 6th May, 59 in the sixth phase on 12th May and 59 in the seventh phase on 19th May. Voting took place on the seats. The results were announced on 23 May 2019.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, while addressing the media, said that the tenure of the current 17th Lok Sabha is going to end on June 16, 2024. Describing the festival of elections as a festival of the country, he said that conducting elections in the world’s largest democratic country is a big challenge in itself. But, the Commission has made major preparations for this in the last two years.
He said that the Commission has talked to DMs and SSPs or SPs of all the districts of the country and has made extensive preparations at all levels. This time there are around 97 crore (96.8 crore) registered voters, 10.5 lakh polling stations have been set up in the country. There are 1.5 crore polling officers and security personnel, 55 lakh EVMs and 4 lakh vehicles are available to conduct the elections.
He said that violence has no place in democracy and violence in elections will not be tolerated at all. Along with this, concrete arrangements have also been made to prevent misuse of money power and muscle power in elections. The Chief Election Commissioner also claimed that he is confident that with everyone’s participation the Election Commission will be successful in conducting memorable, fair and free elections.
