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After much anticipation, the Election Commission on Sunday announced that Lok Sabha elections would begin on April 11 and would be held over seven phases till May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora said.
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Odisha and Sikkim will also be held simultaneously. However, elections for Jammu and Kashmir, which was dissolved after BJP walked out of an alliance with PDP last June, will not be held along with the Lok Sabha polls. Follow LIVE Updates here
* The Election Commission said ‘voter-verifiable paper audit trail’ (VVPAT) will be used in all polling stations this time along with electronic voting machines (EVMs).
* In order to facilitate the electors in identifying the candidates, photographs of politicians will be used on EVM ballot paper. “This will help avoid any confusion, which may arise when candidates with same or similar names contest from the same constituency. For this purpose, the candidates are required to submit to the Returning Officer, their recent stamp size photograph as per the specifications laid down by the Commission,” CEC Arora said.
* Ten lakh polling stations will be set up this time as against nine lakh in 2014.
* Nearly 90 crore voters will be eligible to vote in 543 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country. In 2014, the total electorate eligible to vote was 81 crore. Of the 90 crore, 1.5 crore are new voters in the age group of 18 to 19.
* CEC Sunil Arora said all political advertisements on social media will need pre-certification. These ads will also be part of the poll expenditure of the party. A social media expert will be part of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee.
* The CEC stated that social media platforms — Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter — have said all political advertisements will be certified. He said that Twitter, Facebook and Google will also highlight political ads on their platforms specifically.
* In order to fight the menace of fake news, all candidates contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will have to declare their social media accounts to the Election Commission as part of their affidavit.
* The EC also directed political parties/candidates to desist from using environmentally hazardous publicity material and promote usage of eco-friendly substances for the preparation of election campaign material.
