Election Commission Announces 2024 General Elections Schedule | Lok Sabha Election | India Today

so there you have the election commission has uh given us the poll schedule for the big elections of 2024 general elections 2024 for the 18th Lo saaba will commence with voting on the 19th 1 19 April Friday the 19th will conclude on the 1st of June with The Final Countdown the counting taking place on the 4th of June so that's the big story that we have for you from the 19th of April all the way to the 1st of June is when the general elections of [Music] 2024 will take place those are the dates to look at 19th April 26th April Friday then 7th May so a bit of a gap of 10 days then the 13th of May 20th of May 25th of May and then 1st of June three states west Bengal Bihar and utar Pradesh will have a seven space pole but all the others will have uh a counting will will all the other states will have shorter phases remember Andra Pradesh will have assembly elections along with loksabha that's on the 13th of May and uh odisa will have a two- fa P 13th and 20th of May counting 4th of June so remember last time counting took place 23rd so we've now got counting taking place uh almost uh 12 Days Later compared to what it was in uh 2019 rajat Siti joining us political commentator I'm also joined by Javid Ansari senior journalist to you Javid first your first takeaways anything that strikes out for you uh as I said it seems that the poll process if anything is only getting more and more elongated and we are now going right into the month of June yes it is and it's on expected lines but there is one question that Still Remains unanswered I don't know if somebody will ask the EC or maybe he'll he'll volunteer with information what is the hesitation what prevents the EC for going in for V 100% VV Pags MH that is something you know the election commission has gone to Great length election commissioner has gone to get friends to try and protest his innocence prove his innocence prove that there is a Level Playing Field well if you've done so much then what prevents you from taking the final step provide VB pads a paper trail for every vote that is cast so then so the chief election commissioner still not answered that contentious question of evpad at least I didn't hear it at the press conference uh Javid Ansari saying what stops the election commission from doing 100% VV pads as has been uh asked for by the opposition parties in in particular uh the government would say or the EC seems to suggest that would be double counting uh essentially you would be doing both paper you would be doing both EVMS and paper counting as a result jav that there's no harm so long as it is so long as it proves Beyond any reasonable doubt that elections were free and fair it is worth the wait okay let let's get another view rajat Siti do you go along with what Javid Ansari said that the election commission apart from Ms should be doing 100% VV pads which means the verified paper trail will be right across every polling booth and not randomly selected once as has been the case in recent times well uh logistically speaking uh would it be possible not possible is something that the election commissioner can only answer but uh you know so far you've seen that all the audits that have been performed uh uh on all of these VV Pat machines have largely been uh pretty well accepted by the public and uh you know that randomization test is still on and I think from a logistical standpoint U this seems to be a safe Middle Ground ideally yes I mean if you if everything else uh uh especially on on handling the logistics is sorted you can eventually look at another uh general election where vvad would be compulsory but uh I think for now uh this seems to be a settled issue uh what is going to be interesting to watch is that this long extended cycle going all the way into deep Summers uh of India uh North India would be uh in the grip of uh L as well as winter W Summer Waves um so far uh elections have largely concluded by 23rd 22nd May uh uh but entering into June would be something interesting to watch out as to how does the uh water turnout get impacted because of this Mr Ari vaj and prmod Mahajan for that if you recall in 20 2004 the election cycle was to take place in October they preponed it by 5 months under pressure they say from Chandra Babu Naidu at the time who wanted Andra Pradesh election cycle to coincide with the general elections to take advantage of uh the vajpai uh image and guess what both lost Chandra Babu lost to Y rajshekar RI and so did atel bihari vajpai so if we are to blame anyone for the summer election we should turn to Chandra Babu G since both pramod Mahajan and atal G are no longer with us uh jav G that you are a lucky man that you're now semi-retired if I may use the word I know good journalists never retire but uh that was a better time to do elections Javid October to December look nothing gets a political journalist juice flowing in covering elections whether it is the height of winter or summer if there were elections I at least loved it I loved sweating it out especially in the dust bowls of of up and Bihar and norn India so I quite loved it yes in an ideal situation if it was you know in Winter then there is this issue of fog and and in some parts there there's I mean it's so cold that people are reluctant to come out so be that as it may I think people in India we're trying to get your audio fixed jav we having a slight problem with your audio we'll just get that fixed in a moment just to also say there was some there was some reports to suggesting that maybe the election commission could do go with simultaneous uh elections also for Jammu and Kashmir remember the Supreme Court has said that Assembly Election should be held in Jammu and Kashmir by the end of September and there was some suggestions that maybe the election commission will look explore the possibility of holding assembly and general elections together that's been ruled out clearly with the schedule so you'll probably have August September being the months where more likely more likely uh elections will take place in the state of Jammu and Kashmir but those are the numbers that as as I keep uh those are the dates uh that matter and stretching into June remember Monsoon also comes in certain parts of the country but Kerala is in the earlier part of the election so that shouldn't be a problem it's going to be North India that's going to be awfully hot uh there are those who suggest you could be heading for the one of the hottest ma in June ever that's the climate the political temperature also of course will continue to rise but uh rajat Siti who does in your view an elongated poll like this help does it help the BJP because it simply has more resources um I mean it's if if you look at I've just got the map uh um where the phase wise distribution is is made and it's a pretty interesting graph um I haven't seen this kind of a movement of forces yet I mean so you know the biggest planning that the election commission has to do is to how do you move your your security forces from one corner to the other Corner phase by phase and that is the biggest consideration or uh sort of the constraint that an election commission has to operate with um they're starting off with Tamil Nadu uh they're also clearing I think parts of chhattisghar they're also getting entire utak uh done in the first phase and and half of Rajasthan so they're all like in four different places they concentrate going to concentrate security U Central Central uh reserved police forces uh and then try and move them in and around various we are also seeing Northeast bunch of Northeastern states are going into elections early on so you can imagine that uh even in the Northeast where security remains a concern uh the first arunachal Pradesh will finish off nagaland Assam part of Assam will also get over and then Manipur uh half of Manipur is getting over electorally in the first phase itself and by second phase you will have almost the entire Northeast done um we also seeing that uh so you're basically saying the some of the some of the states where security is a concern get over pretty early getting them out of the way in the first that often happens and of course the the Big Challenge remain States like West Bengal utar Pradesh and Bihar uh it used to be really Bihar then became utar Pradesh and now it's West Bengal these are the three states where you will have a seven-phase poll let me just go to our correspondents for a moment suag Roy is joining me from Kolkata also joining me uh from the national capital is uh a correspondents here as well uh but first you surag uh tell me uh expected lines that you will have a seven-phase pole in West Bengal it was seventh phase last time as well uh are you getting any reactions there from political parties in Kolkata well you know uh even in 2019 it was a seven-phase elections and uh uh you know popular belief was that yes it might turn out to be seven phase or uh maybe a six phased phased elections and that's what it turned out to be seven phases uh the TRU hasn't reacted so far but let's not forget that when the ECI officials were over here they had you know specifically met them and in a in in a Written Letter to them they had said that uh Let's do let's do only one phase because you have all much you know you have 920 uh you're sending 920 companies of um Central forces for the elections so let's do it in one phase but uh it's not one it's seven phases and yes this is a very important aspect of the elections that we'll see over here in West Bengal that uh 920 companies of central forces will be deployed for uh the elections in West Bengal I think that you know it is the highest second is Jammu and Kashmir where 600 plus companies will be uh deployed so that uh that gives a you know that gives a sense of things how the election commission of India is looking at West Bengal and uh mind you uh when the ECI Chief was speaking he mentioned that no blood bath no violence will be tolerated we had seen in 2019 there were multiple reports of uh violence when uh the elections were happening in West Bengal so that will be a very very important aspect to see what happens with so much of central forces that will be deployed and in a short while from now we are expecting that the tramu Congress will be coming out with their own version and uh we will not be surprised if they uh they are not happy with the seven phase election because they wanted a one-phase election back to you okay let's go now to Amit bhadwad he's been standing by here in the national capital also joining us is Abhishek Mishra from lakau but to you Amit Delhi votes I can see on the 25th of May that's in phase six uh just one day after my birthday uh so uh I will uh have my uh birthday get my birthday present by voting early morning on the 25th in Delhi uh you're at the Congress headquarters I can see at the moment uh any reactions that you're picking up to a seven phase election uh well Ras you know uh is definitely voting in the sixth phase you know that's towards the end of the May 25th May and uh the reaction from the congress party is expected shortly uh from here on uh there will be a formal press conference where the senior leaders of the congress party will be not only responding to the seven phase elections but also in the man and fashion uh the entire election has been you know uh uh strategized by the election commission of India also on the questions of vbat uh uh paper counting all that possibly the reaction from the congress party will be coming in and very interestingly you know there could be suggestions or comments made by the congress party also about the state elections which are to happen in uh you know different states around uh the Loa election uh itself including that of state of Andra Pradesh and urisa uh but you know the big leaders of the congress party the stallwood of the congress party are possibly F focusing right now for the Mega rally that is to happen tomorrow in Mumbai and uh what we are given to understand is that uh shortly from uh from now the Congress in the AIC there will be a press conference uh very soon so we'll be getting uh uh the first reaction of the congress party as well uh as far as the Loa elections are concerned the phases are concerned in and the strategy that has been deployed uh by the Cong by the election commission of India for the general elections uh but uh you know coming back to the national capital it's a very uh interesting uh battle that is expected here uh the arm admy party has already declared four names the four candidates have been announced but the Congress is yet to announce the name of the three candidates who are to be fielded in the national capital and today the election dates have been already announced so that also speaks a lot about the preparations as to in what state things are in the national capital back to you uh interestingly and I'll ask my producers in a moment to put all the data details state by state because I think whichever part of the country you are you need to know when your voting is we just spoke about Delhi being on the 25th of May just to tell you Karnataka will vote in two phases on 26th April and 7th May Karnataka if you in bangaluru mauru it's 26th April and 7th May Tamil Nadu if you're in Chennai kator will be on April 19th so Tamil Nadu one of the few States single phase tamilans known to conduct elections very efficiently uh Andra Pradesh remember it's both loksabha and vidan SAA Year big fight there 13th of May telingana also neighboring state on the 13th of May if you're in Hyderabad put it on your calendar 13th of May producers do put each state also now one by one uh on uh on on our graphics and uh Kerala 26th April so Kerala done and dusted in one day in April Tamil Nadu done and dusted in one day in April so Tamil Nadu will be over on the first day of the polling so the two states where the BJP is weakest many would believe Tamil Nadu and Kerala they didn't open their account in both these states that's over and done with the Prime Minister Southern push will be over in the very first phase itself uh interestingly uh Karnataka also gets over pretty early by the 7th of May so basically Southern India is over by the 13th of May so the first three weeks will be Southern India and then the battle shifts to the Hindi Heartland if you're looking at it geographically that's how you've got to see it abishek Mishra you're there in lakau 7 phase poll in up as well again no surprise it was what six phases last time or seven really last time as well so up and Bengal and Bihar are the three states that the EC will take particular care of either because of fear of violence or just the sheer size of these states well absolutely Raj and that is why utar Pradesh is is once again going to vote in all seven phases uh the voting will begun from the western part usually it begins from there and will move towards the avad region and then ultimately at the Eastern utar Pradesh that is the home ground of prime minister Narendra Modi now what is also very interesting is that lakau the capital will uh vote on in the fifth on the fifth phase and Varanasi and the other very important parts of the Eastern phase will be uh voting on the last phase that is on Seventh so particularly uh you know it's a massive you know preparation on the ground as well we have seen how BJP has already begun their preparations on the ground and even you know in terms of numbers up has always been very significant and the deployment of the security forces and to make sure that the election is smooth such an arrangement has always been witnessed and it is once again very very much evident what is also very important is now uh we will certainly witness now one by one how immediately now the tickets will be announced because India Alli so far barring some of the seats by The samajwadi Party The Congress has not yet revealed a single candidate in utar Pradesh they're fighting on few seats which were given by akiles yadav in the as part of the alliance also mayavati standing all on her own 9 plus seven candidates has already been given by her so that is something which is also interesting a lot of he to this election indeed last time she was along with Ailes yadav a mahagathbandhan but this time time uh it's uh between BJP India Alliance and mayavati in a way will certainly affect the voting trends and also the vote chair which is's claiming to be so that is what is very important and another thing is that uh the accumulative vot chair of Congress and samajwadi party which last was approximately 24% so if they are going to exceed that and in in in in Alliance that is something which remains to be seen because uh BJP has already touched in 2019 and this time they're all set with Mission 80 which is they claiming but practically also it looks very feasible for the BJP to get at least 70 plus in utar Pradesh and that is why this all these seven phases are going to add on to the big tally of the BJP which is ultimately 370 plus which the Prime Minister has openly uh you know challenged and at the same time up once again will be very significant adding on to the victory of the BJP they are looking at it yes okay abishek Mishra saying the how the road road to Delhi always leads through lakau so the BJP aiming big there in up most polls giving the BJP as of now the big advantage in uttar Pradesh uh Aishwarya palal tracks the election commission for us uh there was a question aishwara that Javed Ansari had asked earlier and said that we should be asking this to the election commissioner that why aren't you having 100% BB pads why this has been a demand that some of the opposition parties Congress says the chief election commissioner not responded to their letters did anyone ask him that is there any possibility of a more expanded BV pad verified paper trail with EVMS this time well let me tell you one thing Raj you know this is a question which some people obviously have been asking the opposition parties also but one of the Practical implications of the vvad and this is what the commission says at the moment is that the duration of the elections will become longer and they also say that whenever the VV are open and the tally is being done that time the political agents at the moment are always standing in those rooms where the verification takes place so they say that when this is already being done then at the moment they don't feel a need that VV pad should be 100% And also they say that if you want to take out the slip and if the people just want to physically examine the slip there are high chances that some people unknowingly might just keep the slips in their pockets might carry them with them then a second problem will arise that the number of slips and the number of votes will not tally so that's the Practical example that the El commission has been given but yes the opposition parties have been asking for it at least not in this election but yes we can expect you know it them increasing it by at least 10 to 20% but in coming elections at least not in 2024 elections so what is the big new thing did you pick up is there anything new in 2024 awara that we didn't see in 2019 well one of the biggest things Raj the big takeaway for me from this election commission press conference is the immediate takedown that will take place of content on on social media they have more than 2,000 people who have been appointed as observers they have been given the power so for example if there is something that a political party tweets out which is misinformation then that officer has the right to take down the content immediately the political party can obviously submit an application that is a different thing but immediate taking down of content will now take place on social media platforms and the commission has reiterated that this time they will make sure that no leader no political party is paired if there is something that the election commission catches even even if it's cash or even if it's something uh you know small mistakes on social media that is something which will not be allowed so if there is any kind of misinformation from any candidate from any political party it will be taken down immediately the officers have now been given this power Raj uh let me come to kamaljit who's been SP standing by for a while kamaljit you're in chandigar temperature is going to rise with every passing week as we get into summer uh Punjab goes to the polls in a single phase well it's a long drawn battle and remember 28 are seats from this region minus jnk so we looking at Himachal 4 10 in harana 13 in Punjab and one in chandigar and obviously uh there's going to be a high pitch battle in Punjab uh bhagwant man has already stated it's going to be 13-0 now there seems to be a lot of agitation as far as the farmers are concerned which way it's going to be as far the grain is concerned uh Punjab is always voted against the center no matter whose part party it has been we'll get you a quick reaction from malwinder Kang he's the spokesperson and a probable candidate from anandpur s he could be facing Manish tiari if he's the candidate uh sir do tell us how are you seeing this definitely uh it's a very long schol of uh general election but uh uh it's a very big uh responsibility for the voter of this country 1 so your competition is with BJP or congress part people welfare schemes Implement how are you looking at the BJP sad Alliance which is impending in they said since the announcement of the election this Alliance Could Happen anytime do you think they'll be able to come back together and actually give a dent to arm admi party considering that as far as 2019 polls are concerned arm admi party could only manage to win one and bip poll you got one so basically the performance ofad party wasn't really up to2 definitely behind the C they already in Alliance they already in Alliance but the thing is that pressure Farmers on agitation all the demands are pending with central government of farmers they are officially they are they are not announcing this already they are in Alliance what about Congress definitely chief minister so the chief minister is going to be leading that fight and remember this is going to be a one uphill task no matter which party it is whether there's going to be Alliance or not not an alliance uh but yes a test of fire or AG parika for the arm admy party because remember whatever they've been talking about free Bly and the other perks and the employment it will boil down too as to how people view them and how the farmer regitration is being viewed Amad party versus the BJP you know with the way it's very interesting Delhi goes to the polls on the 25th and Punjab on the 1 that's sixth and seventh phase so for Arin krial uh who has his highest stakes in these two states the elections will really start only in the four third week of May that's where he has to focus on these two regions in a way uh and hope to get maximum out of that let's turn to uh now to Patna ADI bab joins me from Patna adya uh good evening uh S phase poll in Bihar much like Bengal and utar Pradesh what reactions are you picking up good evening as the of course the elections have been announced and interesting to note here is the fact that like the other popul States Bihar has been given as many as seven phases as far as the upcoming general elections are concerned but that being said interesting is is to note here is the fact that both the constituencies that fall into the state capital Patna districts that is Patna sahib and patliputra they will undergo polls on the very last day so this is something very interesting that has come far and as far as the press conference of the election commission is concerned but then of course after the elections being announced it will be critical to see how mahagathbandhan and NDA react to it because both of them are actually struggling as far as their seat sharing agreement or the formula concerned is concerned Raj interesting uh that in certain States the India Alliance has not yet got its alliances together Bihar is one Maharashtra is the other and now time is is running out these are states which as has been pointed out Bihar uh is going to polls in all seven faces if you are in Mumbai let's tell you when Mumbai is going to the polls because I know there will be a lot of interest uh there uh when Maharashtra is going to the polls it's going to be one of the big States uh of elections in uh 24 uh let me just pick it out there when is Mumbai going to the polls uh Mumbai to go to the polls in two phases interesting Mumbai to go to the polls in two phases elections here will take place uh over two phases in uh Maharashtra I'll get you the exact dates of the polling in uh Maharashtra Maharashtra itself is going to see polling in five phases now that's a big change from the past uh Maharashtra to see polling in five phases last time if I recall it was in four phases now it's up to five from April 19th to May 20th Maharashtra will see five seats on the 19th of April uh8 seats on the 26th 11 seats on 7th May May 13 11 and another 13 on May 20th so Maharashtra also and this is remember a critical phase and many will question that because uh that's a state which uh normally okay let's go straight across to karti chamam uh who so take it away you're with karti chamam go ahead uh well Raj deep we are in Chennai and of course just a short while back uh the election commission of India declared uh the dates for the uh loksabha elections Tamil Nadu of course will be voting in a single phase uh it will go to polls in the first phase itself so that is of course April 19th that's the dday for Tamil Nadu and the results of course on June 4th and joining me currently is uh Congress leader kti Cham uh April 19th is when Tamil Nadu goes to polls all set yes I'm I'm set the congress party is set uh we went to poll on April 19th in 2019 as well so it's the same date for us the only thing is that the results are only due in June 4th that's a rather a protracted wait I wish the election commission um had a much shorter schedule and all those who are propagating One Nation one election should first start propagating One Nation one polling day uh like you rightly pointed out the elections will be held in seven faces across the country uh while we see the Prime Minister already you know in a campaign mode he's been visiting South Indian States uh one after the other even in other parts of the country uh we are yet to see that Mega uh you know India Alliance campaign meeting happened or any major campaign from the side of the congress party as well no no our campaign our alliances campaign will fall into place now once the schedule has been uh announced and we'll now plan it and it will happen doesn't matter how many times the Prime Minister visits the state he's most welcome to visit any part of India as many times as you want I hope he comes to Tamil Nadu often Savers our hospitality and experiences our culture and Cuisine but the BJP is extremely confident look at the Target they've set for themselves the Prime Minister says for BJP it's 370 for the NDA it's four 400 par uh do you think that's a number that the BJP can crack this time around maybe if they hold elections in akan Bat which includes Iran Afghanistan Pakistan Bangladesh maybe if they include akan bat they could achieve this kind of number if they add up all the Parliamentary seats in those countries as far as we are concerned as far as the Tamil Nadu Congress concerned we're absolutely confident that we're going to win all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the seat in pacheri so it's will be 40 out of 40 it's going to be 40 love in our favor from Tamil Nadu but political observers believe the momentum is clearly with the BJP the India lens is even now is still sort of struggling to get their narrative right uh to get the uh seat sharing right even now seat sharing has not been declared uh in several states with several parties I'm not really uh concerned about what's happening in other states in Tamil Nadu it's very clear the narrative is also very clear if you I've traveled extensively I I in my constituency and in other parts as well the the anger against the BJP is palpable the prize rise in the last 10 years is has made life unbearable for the Common Man the the confusion in the GST and secondly tamad wants to reject this Hindi hinda politics they want a politics which respects federalism which respects the the Tamil identity Tamil linguistic identity as well as the rights of the state so it's very clear in Tamil Nadu that they want a secular federal government at the center uh but across India what do you think are the issues that are going to resonate on the ground uh in this elections what is this election going to be about as far as I'm concerned it's about the economy it's about the the burden the common man is facing in terms of uh uh increase in expenditure and a decrease in his earning capacity and then which means that lesser savings for the average family so it should really be the focus should be on the quality of life for the average person and the unemployment which is Raging in in the rest of the country as well uh we are also seeing a massive controversy Brewing over the Electoral bonds data that has been published do you think that will strike a cord with uh the people is the Congress going to pick up that narrative and take it to the it's a it's it's corruption 101 I mean it's nothing more than that you know the the Electoral bonds is just a um system by which they the BJP was able to uh you know exort was just extortion from uh you know if you just do the math together companies are raided then they immediately uh you know fund the BJP or companies which have already been raided uh then contribute to in order to to to make sure that their cases are watered down or companies which have gotten large public contracts are contributors to the BJP so this is clear case of extortion and Corruption and we will definitely raise this um as as the data is getting clearer and clearer we will raise it in the election campaign okay karti chamam there uh making an interesting point at a time when you're talking of one nation one election at least try and make it uh one nation one day of polling uh but mosmi Singh is our uh veteran uh intrepret reporter she's with uh AI ranjan Chri senior Congress leader take it away I'll have a question for air at the end of it but you first go ahead rajdeep you and I have to gear up now because uh the battle is on and we have to cover it very closely and precisely uh so we're all set and we're getting you the first exclusive conversation with adhir ranan Chri the leader of the congress party in the Lok saaba ADI ranan Chri also has a waging battle in West Bengal uh adid the announcements have been made it's a seven phase polling did you expect a shorter span of uh elections or or it's according to your expectations considering the uh government has been pitching for one nation one po see one nation one pole is a different CLE of Fe that is I mean that is absolutely another aspect of what is of the political discourse that is going on in India but so far as general election is concerned it was well anticipated that election will be held in phases and this is not the new phenomena being observed By Us in earlier occasion also phased elections we have witnessed and this time this is the same reputation of the past so nothing new in the seven phases of election that is going to be held in India interestingly the ele Chief election commissioner talks about misinformation and and saying that the this this time around it will just not be about warnings it will be about some strict action that the CC will take uh considering the past records do you think that's a uh Silver Lining there see the issue is that everything has to be judged by practicing not by preaching our chief election commissioner has elucidated the ENT spectrum of general elections which is poised to be held in India and he has been bessing his entire machinary in order to get it done we have also today noticed the views of Elections commissions including the moral ethical political ideological cultural etc etc right now the challenge remains that what is being preached also to be complied with practices so it is incumbent upon Chief election commissioner what he has professed has to be implemented Across the Nation in earlier occasion also we have sometimes faced some sorts of discriminations okay so there AI ranjan Chri saying that the election commission must walk the talk when it comes to uh ensuring that the model code of conduct is enforced particularly misinformation

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Length: 37min 3sec (2223 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 16 2024