Election commission Schedule Highlights

New Delhi:The Model Code of Conduct came into effect on Sunday following the announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule by the Election Commission.

Highlights:

• VVPATs with EVMs to be used at all polling booths
• Total Lok Sabha voters likely to be around 900 mn
• Lok Sabha elections to be held in seven phases
• Lok Sabha Polls to Begin from April 11, Results to be Declared on May 23
• The last date of nomination of phase 1 is March 25. First phase April 11, second phase on April 18 and counting to be held on May 23.
• 84.3 million new voters since 2014, 15 million voters in the age of 18 and 19

• Dates of polling and number of seats
  April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19 are the other dates of polling. 91 seats in Phase I in 20 states, 97 seats Phase II in 13 states, 115 seats in Phase III in 14 states, 71 seats in Phase IV in 9 states, 51 seats in Phase V in 7 states, 59 seats in Phase VI in 7 seats, 59 seats in Phase VII in 8 states.

• 22 states going in single phase: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Andaman Niccobar, Dadra and Nagar haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshdweep, Delhi, Pondicherry, Chandigarh.

• States going in 2 phases are Karnataka, Manipur, Rajasthan and Tripura. States going in 3 phases are Assam Chhattisgarh. States going in 4 phases are Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha. The state going in 5 phase is Jammu and Kashmir. States going in 7 phases are Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

• Lok Sabha Polls:

  - Phase1 in 91 constituencies in 20 states,

  - Phase 2 in 97 constituencies in 13 states,

  - Phase 3 in 115 constituencies in 14 states,

  - Phase 4 in 71 constituencies in 9 states,

  - Phase 5 in 51 constituencies in 7 states,

  - Phase 6 in 59 constituencies in 7 states,

  - Phase 7 in 59 constituencies in 8 states