- Monday, February 24, 2025
Four state elections will also be held alongside the national voting to elect 543 representatives to the Lok Sabha or Lower House of the parliament.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE much-awaited schedule for the 2024 general elections in India will be announced on Saturday (16) at 3 pm local time, the Election Commission of India confirmed on Friday (15).
In a brief post made on X, the commission said that besides the national polls, dates for four state elections, which will be held around the same time, would also be released.
“Press Conference by Election Commission to announce schedule for #GeneralElections2024 & some State Assemblies will be held at 3 pm tomorrow ie Saturday, 16th March. It will livestreamed on social media platforms of the ECI,” it said.
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Press Conference by Election Commission to announce schedule for #GeneralElections2024 & some State Assemblies will be held at 3 pm tomorrow ie Saturday, 16th March. It will livestreamed on social media platforms of the ECI pic.twitter.com/1vlWZsLRzt
— Spokesperson ECI (@SpokespersonECI) March 15, 2024
The model code of conduct will come into force as soon as the dates are announced. The previous general elections in 2019 were held in seven phases between April 11 and May 19. The results were declared on May 23.
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Besides the general elections, the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will also go to polls around the same time. Later in the year, the states of Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand will witness polls. The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will also go to election this year after the country’s top court directed conducting the elections in Kashmir by September 30 as the first step towards restoration of statehood.
It was for the first time that the election panel gave a 24-hour notice before holding a press conference to announce the dates of voting phases and other details related to the elections, including deployment of security personnel in states that are known for post-election clashes and disturbance by the radical Left.
The poll commission’s announcement comes a day after two new commissioners were inducted into the body after the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey last month and the sudden resignation of Arun Goel last week. Former Indian Administrative Services officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were named to the panel though their nominations were challenged by the Association for Democratic Reforms, a non-partisan organisation in India that works on electoral and political reforms. It sought a stay on the two appointments which the top court refused and said the matter will be heard on March 21.
The commission is headed by chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar.
