Politics

Lok Sabha Election 2024: 7-Phase Polling Begins April 19, Counting on June 4

The Lok Sabha election 2024 will be held in seven phases starting on April 19. The counting will be on June 4. The phase 1 polling will be held on April 19, the moment stage on April 26, the third phase on May 7, the fourth phase on May 13, the 5th phase on May 20, the 6th phase on May 25, and the final and 7th phase on June 1. The announcements were made less than a day after Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu, the two new election commissioners, assumed office.

The CEC detailed the election preparations and stated that 47.1 crore women out of the 97 crore registered voters will be able to cast ballots. Throughout the entire exercise, 55 lakh EVMS will be used. Voting from home is permitted for voters over 85 and those with impairments who meet the 40% baseline disability threshold. While the option to vote from home was available in certain assembly elections, this is the first general election when it will be available to voters throughout the entire county.

Challenges of 4Ms

The CEC stated that the EC is dedicated to reducing violence while discussing the difficulties presented by the 4Ms (muscle, money, misinformation, and MCC violations). A nationwide network of checkpoints has been established, and some international borders will use drone technology for verification. To prevent financial abuse, the EC will approach each state differently. The EC has previously met with agencies to discuss this and has stated that freebies need to be strictly enforced. Every day, reports of questionable transactions will be sent by banks. The CEC stated that false information will be prevented by utilizing the IT Act, which gives each state the authority to request the removal of bogus social media posts. The EC’s website will feature a section titled “Myth versus Reality.”

All of the top campaigners have been required to receive MCC instructions from political parties. “Please refrain from recording the negative things that come out of your mouth on digital media,” the CEC warned activists. May 23, 2019, saw the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results for 2019. April 11–May 19 saw seven phases of elections. Following its 303-seat gain, the Narendra Modi-led NDA was able to secure its second consecutive term in power. Elections for state assemblies are expected to be held in April or May in Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim. The other states taking an interest in this election are Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Haryana. Additionally planned for this year are elections in the union locales of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

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Jammu and Kashmir Get together, and Lok Sabha elections will either be held together or independently, according to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, who said that the board will make this choice after assessing the security circumstances. The NDA is running in this election for the first time against the Congress-led India bloc, which is a coalition of opposition parties and regional parties. A few weeks ago, Narendra Modi declared that the NDA would aim to win “400 paar” seats, while the BJP would win at least 370 seats.