Elections 2024: Election Commission of India to announce Lok Sabha and state assembly election dates on Saturday

Lok Sabha Elections 2024 dates, Schedule news: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is all set to announce the dates for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections on Saturday.

In a post on microblogging site X (formerly Twitter), the national poll panel said that a press conference to announce the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and some state assembly elections will be held at 3 pm on March 16.

Press Conference by Election Commission to announce schedule for #GeneralElections2024 & some State Assemblies will be held at 3 pm tomorrow ie Saturday, 16th March. It will livestreamed on social media platforms of the ECI pic.twitter.com/1vlWZsLRzt

— Spokesperson ECI (@SpokespersonECI) March 15, 2024

This week, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that the poll body would decide on whether the Lok Sabha Elections and Assembly Elections will be held together or separately in Jammu and Kashmir after reviewing the security situation.

Meanwhile, political parties have already begun announcing their candidates for the general elections.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has so far released two lists of candidates. The main opposition, the Indian National Congress (INC) has also released two lists of candidates for the polls.

The term of the current Lok Sabha ends on June 16 and a new House has to be constituted before that. Also, the term of the assemblies in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha is coming to an end in June.

In 2019, the Lok Sabha elections were announced on March 10 and voting was carried out in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The counting for votes was done on May 23.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the grand-old party, the Indian National Congress, behind at 52 seats. 

In 2014, the ECI sent invites for its poll schedule press conference a day in advance. Nearly 97 crore people are eligible to cast vote in the upcoming polls at over 12 lakh polling stations.