2019 Lok Sabha date: All you need to know
New Delhi, Jan 19: The dates for the Lok Sabha elections are likely to be announced in the first week of March, sources indicated on Friday.
The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3.
The Election Commission is in the process of deciding the number of phases and the months in which polling would be held, they said.
2019 LS polls may throw up unstable govt says Jayant Sinha
The charting of the phases would also depend on the availability of security forces and other requirements, the sources said, adding the announcement of the mega exercise is likely to be made in first week of March.
There
is
a
possibility
that
the
EC
may
go
by
the
precedent
and
hold
assembly
elections
in
Andhra
Pradesh,
Odisha,
Sikkim
and
Arunachal
Pradesh
along
with
the
Lok
Sabha
polls.
Since
the
Jammu
and
Kashmir
assembly
+
has
been
dissolved,
the
EC
is
bound
to
hold
fresh
polls
there
within
six
months.
It was dissolved in November, 2018 and the upper limit ends in May. The poll panel may hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir along with the Lok Sabha polls as well. But it can be held before that also as much depends on the complex security situation there, they said.
In normal circumstances, the J&K assembly's six-year term was to end on March 16, 2021. The other state assemblies and the Lok Sabha have a five-year term.
While the term of the Sikkim Assembly ends on May 27, 2019, the terms of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Arunachal Pradesh assemblies end on June 18, June 11 and June 1 respectively.
To conquer 2019, 5 hurdles BJP will need to cross
In 2004, the Election Commission had announced four-phase Lok Sabha polls on February 29. While the first date of poll was April 20, the last date was May 10.
In 2009, the EC had announced Lok Sabha poll scheduled on March 2. The five-phase polls began on April 16 and ended on May 13.
In 2014, the EC had announced the election schedule on March 5 and the nine-phase electoral exercise was spread across April and May.