Lok Sabha polls from 7 April to 12 May: Election Commission

 

 

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has set the stage for kicking off the world’s largest democratic exercise—the country’s general election.

Starting on 7 April, over nine days spread across a little over a month till 12 May, 814 million voters will be eligible to cast their votes to elect the 16th Lok Sabha. (For the detailed election schedule, click here.)

The election, which will likely see the election of the first prime minister born in independent India, is a battle between the two main political groupings with conflicting ideologies and visions for the country’s future, spiced up by a third grouping and a disruptive new political force that are both threatening to play spoilers, at least in part.

Lok Sabha Elections: Voter metrics

The counting for the 543 parliamentary constituencies along with the three assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim which go to polls simultaneously, will be on 16 May, well within the deadline of 1 June by which a new Lok Sabha has to be in place.

Announcing the schedule at a press conference in New Delhi, chief election commissioner V. S. Sampath said: “Credible elections, conducted at regular prescribed intervals, are the very soul of any democratic system… Elections to the world’s largest democracy pose immense challenges with respect to logistics and man and material management.”

The model code of conduct, which defines what the central and state governments can and can’t do ahead of the polls, came into effect immediately.

The choice before the electorate, going by opinion polls, is between a new look Congress led by its vice-president and chief campaigner Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi, the four-time Gujarat chief minister and prime ministerial aspirant of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Most opinion polls give the latter a clear edge.

The same polls also caution that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which made a spectacular debut in Delhi, has the potential to disrupt current electoral calculations.

Lok Sabha Elections: Voter turnout in previous elections

This will be the second general election that will be conducted after the delimitation of constituencies and the first Lok Sabha poll in which voters will have the option of choosing “none of the above” (NOTA).

Among the states that are going to the polls for both assembly and parliamentary constituencies, Andhra Pradesh will vote in two phases on 30 April and 7 May, Odisha, in two again, on 10 and 17 April and Sikkim on 12 April.

This will be the last time Andhra Pradesh will go to the hustings as a united state. On 2 June, Andhra Pradesh will be split into Telangana and Seemandhra states, and their assembly constituencies will be represented by the same lawmakers.

Andhra Pradesh has 294 assembly constituencies, Odisha has 147, and Sikkim 32. Besides this, by-elections are being held in 23 assembly constituencies in eight states.

The states where parliamentary polls will be held over the most phases are Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where polling will take place on 10 April, 17 April, 24 April, 30 April, 7 May and 12 May.

The two states together account for 120 parliament seats.

Apart from Andhra Pradesh, all the other southern states will be voting on a single day—Karnataka on 17 April, Kerala on 10 April and Tamil Nadu on 24 April.

Delhi will go to the polls on 10 April.

Lok Sabha Elections: Seat tally in previous elections

A sustained three-year outreach campaign conducted by ECI has ensured an increase in the voter base by nearly 100 million since the 2009 general election.

At 814 million, India’s electoral base is almost thrice the population of the US, the world’s oldest democracy. Of this, 388 million, almost 47.6%, are women.

Some experts believe the actual number of people eligible to vote could be lower.

“100 million names added in 5 years, but no one is talking of how many deletions.... Somehow, we have a blind spot when it comes to deletions. In an urbanizing India, the issue is no longer just additions but the quality of the voter list,” said Ramesh Ramanathan, co-founder of Janaagraha, a Bangalore-based not-for-profit organization that works on urban issues.

The elections will be conducted in 930,000 polling stations across the country—100,000 more than in 2009.

ECI officials say the entire exercise will cost India Rs.6000 crore.

The commission has warned candidates to stay within the prescribed spending limits. Last week, the Union cabinet approved an amendment to the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, and revised the limit for election expenditure by a candidate for parliamentary constituencies to Rs.70 lakh from Rs.40 lakh in all states except Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry, where it was kept at Rs.54 lakh.

“Special emphasis has been given to check the flow and use of money in this election, including expenditure officers, flying squads, check posts and media certifications (to check paid news),” Sampath said.

Experts maintain that the limits are actually much lower than the amounts candidates spend.

N. Bhaskara Rao, founder-chairman of the Centre for Media Studies, a Delhi-based think tank, said this Lok Sabha election will likely be the most expensive in the world.

“The total expense for this election (which includes the money spent by ECI, state and central governments as well as the candidates) will be around Rs.30,000 crore, which is Rs.10,000 crore more than the last election. Around 50% of the money that will be spent in elections will be unaccounted,” he said.

Rao said the total expense in the 1996 general election was Rs.2,200 crore, which went up to Rs.4,500 core in 2004 and an estimated Rs.20,000 crore in 2009.

 

AKANKSHA SHANU

PGDM 2nd sem.