New Delhi: Elections to 17th Lok Sabha will be held in seven phases, from April 11 to May 19, and counting of votes will take place on May 23, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday evening, the CEC said, ‘the polling will be held in seven phases on April 11, April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19. The counting of votes will be held on May 23. The election process has to be completed by May 27.’

In the Phase 1 , 91 constituencies in 20 states will go to polls while in phase 2 , 97 constituencies in 13 states will go for elections.

Click here to See Schedule:

Click here to See Schedule (Infographic2):

In the phase 3, 115 constituencies in 14 states will go for polls while in phase 4 , 71 constituencies in 9 states will go for elections and in phase 5 , 51 constituencies in 7 states will go for polling and in phase 6 , 59 constituencies in 7 states will go for vote.

In Phase 7 , 59 constituencies in 8 states will go for polling.

Elections to Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha Election 2019. However, no simultaneous polls will be held for Jammu and Kashmir assembly, only parliamentary elections.

‘Based on input, constraint of availability of central forces and other logistics, requirement of forces for security of candidates in wake of recent violence and keeping other challenges in mind EC has decided at this stage to announce only schedule of Parliament election in Jammu and Kashmir.

Phase1 polling will be held in 20 states, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep.

Phase 2 polling will be held in Assam , Bihar , Chhattisgarh , J and K , Karnataka , Maharashtra , Manipur , Odisha , Tamil Nadu , Tripura , UP , West Bengal , Puducherry.

Polling in phase three will held in Assam , Bihar , Gujarat , Goa , J and K , Karnataka , Kerala , Maharashtra , Odisha , UP , WB , Dadra , Daman while phase 4 will held in Bihar , J and K , Jharkhand , Madhya Pradesh , Maharashtra , Odisha , Rajasthan , UP, WB .

In Phase 5 polls will held in Bihar , J and K , Jharkhand , MP , Rajasthan , UP , WB while in Phase 6, polls will be held for Bihar , Haryana , Jharkhand , MP , UP , WB , Delhi and in phase 7 polls will be held in Bihar, Jharkhand , MP , Punjab , WB , Chandigarh , UP , Himachal.

Election to 22 states will be held in a single phase while election to four states will be held in two phase and two states will go to polls in three phases.

Four states will go for polling in four phases. Jammu and Kashmir will go for polling in five phases while seven phase polling will be held in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Five years ago, in 2014, ECI had declared Lok Sabha elections dates on March 5 as elections for the 543 Lok Sabha seats had to be held by the end of May. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3. So ECI had space to announce the dates three-four days later compared to 2014.

In 2014, ECI had declared nine-phase electoral exercise across April and May. While the first phase polling was on April 7, the last phase was on May 12.

DeshGujarat