EC schedule: UP, Bihar to vote in six stages; results on 16/5
Elections for the 16th lok Sabha will be held in nine phases between April 7 and May 12 and the counting of votes will be held on May 16, the Election Commission said on Wednesday. It is for the first time that the general elections will be held in so many phases on April 7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24, 30, May 7 and May 12. The EC announced the poll dates also for Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim Assemblies.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) VS Sampath, who was flanked by Election Commissioners HS Brahma and SNA Zaidi, urged political parties and candidates to strictly adhere to the Model Code of Conduct that came into effect on Wednesday.
All the seven seats in Delhi will go to polls on April 10. Voting for the largest chunk of 122 lok Sabha seats in 13 States will be held on the fifth phase on April 17, while 117 seats in 12 States will go to polls on the sixth phase on April 24. Elections will be held in
Naxal-affected areas on two days — April 10 and May 16. Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar will see heavy deployment of paramilitary and State Police personnel.
Uttar Pradesh with the maximum of 80 seats — where stage is set for a four-cornered fight among Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, BJP and Congress — will go to polls on six days on April 10, 17, 24, 30 and May 7 and 12.
Andhra Pradesh, which has 42 lok Sabha seats, will go to polls on April 30 and May 7. Seventeen lok Sabha seats and 119 Assembly seats in the Telangana region will go to polls on April 30, while 25 lok Sabha seats and 175 Assembly seats in Seemandhra region will go to polls on May 7.
Odisha will have a two-phase polling on April 10 and 17 in 10 and 11 Parliamentary constituencies respectively. Simultaneously, Assembly elections will be held on 70 and 77 Assembly segments on the same dates. The elections to the Assembly of Sikkim will be held on April 12.
The CEC said the poll panel had prepared the schedule in such a manner that the vulnerable sections of voters are amply enabled to participate in the electoral process. “While deciding for poll dates in Naxal-affected areas, we have to take care of security arrangements, the movement of security forces. We want to maximise the use of these forces,” Sampath said.
With the main political parties, the Congress and the BJP, in a straight fight in all States and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) threatening to repeat its Delhi show at the national level, their fate will be decided by the electorate of 81.4 crore, with 10 crore new voters who have become eligible to vote this year.
CEC Sampath said that the whole exercise will be over in 72 days, three days less than it took in the last elections. Election Commissioner HS Brahma urged the campaigners of political parties and other leaders to refrain from making personal comments.