The Election Commission of India (ECI) will announce the poll dates on Sunday, 10 March, at 5 pm in New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan.
Lok Sabha elections 2019 will be held in multiple phases – approximately seven to eight – in April-May. The term of the current Lok Sabha comes to an end on 3 June.
Earlier today, the ECI allotted common symbols to 39 registered un-recognised political parties for the coming Lok Sabha elections 2019.
The model code of conduct will come into force as soon as the election dates are announced. This means that no policy decisions can be announced by the government.
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.
There 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.
There is no clarity on whether the Lok Sabha and Jammu-Kashmir Assembly elections will be held simultaneously. ECI officials will be visiting the state on Monday to elicit the viewpoint of the state government, political parties and other stakeholders on the issue and also review the security situation before taking the final decision.
There were reports that the government has informed the Election Commission that it would be difficult mobilising the required number of security forces for the conduct of free and fair elections. However, the commission has sought a report from the home ministry before it begins its visit to J-K.
The 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.
On Saturday, the ECI issued an advisory to all political parties asking them to desist from using photographs of defence personnel in political advertisements or poll campaigning.
In the general advisory addressed to all “recognized national/state political parties”, the ECI pointed out that it had been brought to the notice of the commission that some political parties were using defence personnel photographs in advertisements as part of their political campaigns.
Citing its December 2013 letter to all political parties, the commission reminded them of the instructions issued therein and told them to ensure strict compliance.
In 2014, the EC had announced the election schedule on 5 March.
The nine-phase electoral exercise was spread across April and May. While the first phase polling was on 7 April, the last phase was on 12 May.
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