EC to announce Lok Sabha poll schedule

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India  (ECI) is set to announce on Sunday schedule for the high-voltage Lok Sabha elections, which is likely to be spread over seven to eight phases in April-May.nn

Kind Attn Media : #ElectionCommission Press Conference at 5pm today ie 10th March 2019 at Vigyan Bhavan, Plenary hall. Entry would be on the basis of PIB card especially for the camera teams with their equipment. Entry to begin by 3.30pm for camera teams to start setting up

— Satyendra Prakash (@DG_PIB) March 10, 2019

nnThe poll panel will be holding a press conference at 5 pm at Vigyan Bhavan here.nnThe term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3.nnAs soon as the elections, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his bid to return to power amid hectic parleys by several political parties to put a united fight against the ruling BJP, are announced, the model code of conduct will come into force.nnAmongst other things, the code bars the government from announcing policy decisions.nnNotification for the first phase could be issued by the end of March for voting some time in early April, sources suggested.nnThere is a strong 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.nnSince the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has been dissolved, the EC is bound to hold fresh polls there as well within a six-month period, which will end in May.nnWhile there is a view that the J-K assembly elections can be held along with the Lok Sabha polls, a lot depends on the complex security situation in the state given the heightened tension along the India-Pakistan border.nnThe Centre and the state administration, being managed by the Centre-appointed Governor, are against holding the two elections together.nnHowever, all political parties in the state favoured simultaneous polls during a meeting with the Election Commission earlier this week.nnThe J-K assembly’s six-year term was to end on March 16, 2021, but it got dissolved after a ruling coalition between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fell apart.nnThe other state assemblies and Lok Sabha have five-year terms.nnThe required electronic voting machines and paper trail machines are in place to be deployed in nearly 10 lakh poling stations across 543 Lok Sabha constituencies.nnThere is a high probability of the elections being spread across seven to eight phases this time.nnIn 2014, the EC had announced the election schedule on March 5 and the nine-phase electoral exercise was spread across April and May.nnWhile the first phase polling was on April 7, the last phase was on May 12nnSource: Press Trust of India