NEW DELHI: The general election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases from April 19, Election Commission of India announced on Saturday. The counting will be held on June 4. India, the world’s largest democracy, has kicked off its one and a half month long parliamentary election to decide who will rule the South Asian nation
The country’s  poll body  announced the dates for a democratic exercise that is unmatched in scale globally, and in history. Nearly 970 million voters ,more than the entire population of the United States, the European Union and Russia combined are eligible to cast their ballot, according to the poll panel’s data, making the election the largest democratic exercise in the world. “We will take democracy to every corner of the country,” Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said as he announced the voting dates. “It is our promise to deliver a national election in a manner that we … remain a beacon for democracy around the world.”
The announcement of the Lok Sabha election date 2024 comes two days after the appointment of two new Election Commissioners- Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. The appointment of the new ECs came after the surprise resignation of Arun Goel last week and the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey on February 14.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking a third straight term in the vote, has set a target of 370 seats for his Bharatiya Janata Party and 400-plus for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) the BJP heads in the 543-member lower house of parliament. In 2019, the BJP won 303 seats – the most ever for the Hindu nationalist party that was formed in 1980.
The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will kick in after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election date 2024 which means that the political parties, candidates, and government must work under the stipulated guidelines of the Election Commission of India (ECI) around their speeches, announcements, election manifestos etc.
Meanwhile,The Opposition has reacted on the seven-phase Lok Sabha election schedule announced by the Election Commission, saying for over one month “there won’t be any govt and election procedure will be underway”. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi says, ” Election Commission must have thought of something before giving such a long period…on one side we talk about ‘one nation one election’ and on the other hand there is election in 7 phases, so for almost one and half month, the atmosphere in the country will be such that, there won’t be any govt and election procedure will be underway.
No simultaneous polls will be held, CEC Rajiv Kumar said. The assembly polls for Andhra Pradesh will be on May 13, Sikkim on April 19, Arunachal Pradesh on April 19, and Odisha will be held on May 13. In a press conference today,  the CEC said it is working towards combating the 4Ms (muscle, money, misinformation, and MCC violations) that hinder the path to free and fair elections.
Around 97 crore people are eligible to vote in the upcoming polls. Rajiv Kumar said that voters older than 85 years of age will be allowed to vote from home. He also said that minimum basic facilities like drinking water and toilets will be made available at all polling booths. The tenure of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 16 and a new House will have to be constituted before that. The tenure of the four state assemblies will also end in June.
(With Media Inputs).

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