New Delhi:

We, the BJP-NDA, are fully prepared, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, soon after the Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections. The elections, staggered over seven phases will begin on April 19 and end on June 1. The results will be declared on June 4.

“The biggest festival of democracy is here! EC (Election Commission) has announced the 2024 Lok Sabha election dates. We, the BJP-NDA, are fully prepared for elections. We are going to the people on the basis of our track record of good governance and service delivery across sectors,” he posted on X.

The biggest festival of democracy is here! EC has announced the 2024 Lok Sabha election dates. We, the BJP-NDA, are fully prepared for elections. We are going to the people on the basis of our track record of good governance and service delivery across sectors.…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 16, 2024

Slamming the Opposition, the Prime Minister claimed when the NDA government assumed office ten years ago, “the people of India were feeling betrayed and disillusioned thanks to INDI Alliance’s pathetic governance. No sector was left untouched from scams and policy paralysis. The world had given up on India. From there, it’s been a glorious turnaround.”

“Our Opposition is rudderless and issueless. All they can do is abuse us and practice vote bank politics. Their dynastic approach and attempts of dividing society are not being accepted. Equally hurting them is their corruption track record. People don’t want such leadership,” he added.

PM Modi’s BJP is widely expected to win more than the required 272 seats needed for a simple majority in elections for 543 seats in Lok Sabha. The Prime Minister predicts the BJP will win 370 seats and its National Democratic Alliance more than 400, aiming for a four-decade high.

“The people of India are witnessing what a determined, focused and result-oriented government can do. And, they want more of it. That is why from every corner of India, cutting across all sections of society, the people are saying in one voice- Ab Ki Baar, 400 Paar,” he posted.

Confident of his victory in the elections, PM Modi asserted, “In our third term, there’s much work to be done. The last decade was about filling gaps created by those who ruled for seventy years. It was also about instilling a spirit of self-confidence that yes, India can become prosperous and self-reliant. We will build on this spirit”.

“I can clearly see that the coming five years will be about our collective resolve of establishing the roadmap that will guide our trajectory as a nation for the next thousand years and make India the embodiment of prosperity, all-round growth and global leadership,” he added.

Over 96 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said, of which 49.72 crore were male voters and 47.1 crore were female voters. There are 1.82 crore first-time voters.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, polling was held in seven phases.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, retired bureaucrats Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were on Thursday appointed as Election Commissioners by a high-powered panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This is the first time that Election Commissioners have been appointed in accordance with the new Chief Election Commissioner and other Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 brought in by the government in December last year.

Read the full story here.

New Delhi:

The Election Commission of India will visit Jammu and Kashmir from Monday to Wednesday to assess when polls can be held in the Union Territory and the dates for the Lok Sabha elections are likely to be revealed immediately after that, sources have told NDTV. The announcement may be made on Thursday or Friday.

The Commission’s visit to Jammu and Kashmir comes after the Supreme Court had directed it to hold Assembly elections in the Union Territory (UT) by September. The Centre had then asked the panel to assess whether the Assembly elections in the UT could be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. 

“Once the assessment is complete and the visit ends on Wednesday, the commission may announce the dates for the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday or Friday,” a source said. 

The model code of conduct will come into effect as soon as the elections are announced and parties have been making promises and inaugurating projects on a war footing before that happens. 

As far as the polls in Jammu and Kashmir are concerned, the commission has been given a full briefing by the security establishment and the entire panel, including Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Arun Goel, will visit the Union Territory. 

The last Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in 2014 and the state was bifurcated after Article 370, which gave it special status, was abrogated in 2019. The Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh came into existence after that.

During a hearing on a bunch of petitions challenging the scrapping of Article 370, the Supreme Court had, in December last year, directed the Election Commission to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30. Upholding the Union government’s decision to abrogate Article 370, the court had directed it to take steps to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir at the earliest. 

No Elected Government Since 2018

In the 2014 Assembly elections, the People’s Democratic Party led by Mehbooba Mufti and the BJP had formed a coalition government. It had collapsed in 2018 after the BJP pulled its support and Jammu and Kashmir has not had an elected government since then.

The PDP is now part of the INDIA Alliance but there have been rumblings after the Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) said it will contest all three seats in Kashmir on its own and leave the two in Jammu for the Congress. 

Terming the NC’s decision “disappointing”, Ms Mufti also accused the NC of reducing the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) to a “joke”. The PAGD is an alliance of parties, including the NC and the PDP, that had come together to seek the restoration of the Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.