Lok Sabha polls to be held in 9 phases, voting to begin on April 7

New Delhi, Mar 5: Chief election Commissioner VS Sampath will announce the Lok Sabha election dates at a press conference on Wednesday morning in New Delhi.

The entire voting will take place in 9 poll days, covering 543 parliamentary constituencies, announced the CEC.

On the first poll day, 7 April 2014, 2 states and 6 constituencies will be covered.

On second day, 9 April, 5 states and 7 constituencies will be covered.

The third poll day, 10 April, will cover 14 states, 92 constituencies.

The fourth day, 12 April, will see 5 constituencies in three states going to the polls. The assembly elections in Sikkim will also be held on the same day.

On the fifth poll day, 17 April, 13 states and all the UTs (total 22 constituencies) will be covered.

The sixth day, 24 April, will cover 117 constituencies in 12 states.

The seventh poll day, 30 April, will cover 9 states (89 constituencies).

On the eighth poll day, 7 May, 7 states (64 constituencies in all) will be covered.

The 9th and last poll day, 12 May, 3 states (41 constituencies) will be covered.

The vote counting will take place on 16 May, announced CEC. ( See the detailed schedule here)

The term of current Lok Sabha ends on May 31, 2014. The 2009 polls were held in five phases from April 16 to May 13.

Parties had highlighted the need for holding polls in phased manner in some states, said CEC.CEC said that the model code of conduct will come into force with immediate effect. NOTA facility will be given in 2014 general elections, he said.

On March 9, voters can get themselves enrolled in the voters list across the country. On this day, officers will verify electoral rolls and allow applications, said CEC. Special camps will be organised across the country for this purpose.

People can enroll themselves in voters list on March 9

There are nine lakh 30 thousand polling stations in the country, which is 12 per cent more than the polling stations in 2009 elections.

Apart from the LS polls, three states including Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will go to polls to elect new assemblies.

For the first time in parliamentary polls, a system of paper trail for electronic voting will be introduced in some constituencies on a trial basis.

An estimated 81.4 crore voters will be eligible to vote in the coming elections after 9.71 crore new voters have been added to the rolls since the last elections. Around 10% of the total electorate is new voters.

From the coming elections, candidates in a parliamentary constituency in bigger states can spend up to Rs 70 lakh ontheir campaign, up from Rs 40 lakh in 2011. In the 2009 elections, it was Rs 25 lakh.

Oneindia news

(With PTI inputs)