The announcement of the long-awaited Lok Sabha elections, which people across the country have been eagerly anticipating for the past few days, has finally been made. The by-election in Maharashtra for the Akola West constituency will take place during the second phase. The elections in Mumbai will be held on May 20, along with Palghar, Kalyan and Thane. Maharashtra stands as a key player in Indian politics, boasting the second-highest number of Lok Sabha seats nationwide, with 48 constituencies. Maharashtra – April 19 (5 seats), April 26 (8 seats), May 7 (11 seats), May 13 (11 seats), May 20 (13 seats)
The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 19, votes will be counted on June 4, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on Saturday, March 16. The Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, has declared the schedule for the 18th Lok Sabha elections. With phrases like "Festival of Democracy" and "Pride of the Nation," the election process for the world's largest democracy is now officially underway. The chief election commissioners expressed that this election, with its massive electorate of 970 million voters, marks a celebration of democracy. Among them, there are 182 million new voters.
Voting will take place in seven phases for the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha across the country. Previously, voting took place in seven phases between 2014 and 2019 as well. Prior to this, after being appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu had taken charge of preparing for the Lok Sabha elections with Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Friday. Subsequently, today, under the leadership of Rajiv Kumar, the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections was made with the press council. According to this, this election will be held in 7 phases, with the first notification being issued on March 28. However, voting for the first phase will begin on April 19. Voting will take place in 5 phases in Maharashtra.In the country, the utmost care is being taken for free and fair elections. Out of the country's 970 million voters, 497 million are men and 471 million are women who exercise their voting rights. However, 48 thousand third gender individuals will also vote. For this, Kumar also mentioned that 55 lakh EVM machines are ready for voting. The Election Commission of India releases the schedule for Bye-Elections in 26 ACs along with GE 2024.