The world’s biggest democracy will hold general election between April 7 and May 12, India’s Election Commission announced on Wednesday.
The dates for the nationwide polls are April 7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24, 30 and May 7 and 12, the Chief Election Commissioner, Vis Sampath, told reporters in New Delhi.
The elections are staggered for logistical and security reasons and to ensure the polls were held in a free and fair manner, he added.
Elections for India’s 545-member Lower House of Parliament, or Lok Sabha, are held every five years.
The term of the current United Progressive Alliance government, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ends in May and a new government will be formed after vote-counting on May 16.
The forthcoming poll pits the centrist governing party, the Indian National Congress, which is facing public anger over government corruption and a slowing economy against a resurgent opposition party – the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Eleven left-wing and regional parties have formed a Third Front against the Congress and BJP.
The fledgling anti-corruption Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party that made a dramatic debut in local elections in Delhi, will also be contesting the polls.
A total of 814.6 million people will be able to vote this time round, around 100 million more than in the 2009 elections.
Each representative in the lower House is directly elected by voters in each constituency in the country’s 28 states and seven union territories.
The lower House is the principal repository of legislative power at the federal level in India. The upper House, or Rajya Sabha, has no power of veto over lower House decisions.
People will vote using electronic machines across 930,000 polling stations in the country. Voters will also be given, for the first time, the “None of the Above” option, if they do not want to vote for any candidate.
dpa/NAN.
Trending
- Hajj 2024: NAHCON describes Gov. Uzodinma as pillar of support
- TUC wants FG to pay wage award for March, April
- Suspension of Dana Air hasty, punitive — Flight Dispatchers
- Ferry deaths: CILT raises alarm as over 300 die in one year
- Smuggled explosives: Customs hands over 6,240 dynamites to DSS
- Anambra: NSCDC arrests eight illegal private guards, recovers weapons
- Health Workers Week: Stakeholders suggest way out of declining workforce
- Review of: ‘Till My Change Comes,’ by Motunrayo Olumakaiye