The Election Fee of India introduced on Saturday the much-awaited schedule for the Lok Sabha polls, in addition to meeting and bypoll contests in a number of states.
Trying in direction of the East and Northeast, West Bengal, which is notorious for poll-related violence, will see voting in all seven phases of the final elections: April 19, 26, Might 7, 13, 20, 25, and June 1.
Odisha will vote on Might 13, 20, 25, and June 1, or the 4th, fifth, sixth, and seventh phases of the Lok Sabha polls.
Assam will see voting on April 19, 26, and Might 7, within the first three phases of the final elections.
All seven northeastern states will vote in a single section on April 19.
The counting of votes throughout the nation will happen on June 4.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar stated there are as many as 97 crore eligible voters in India, of which 1.8 crore can be first-time voters.
He stated 10.5 lakh polling stations can be arrange for the elections with 1.5 crore polling officers and safety workers, 55 lakh EVMs, and 4 lakh automobiles.
In 2019, the Lok Sabha elections have been held in seven phases from April 11 to Might 19. The outcomes have been declared on Might 23.
West Bengal
Trinamool Congress chairperson and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee not too long ago declared that seat-sharing talks with the Congress had failed and her get together would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls alone within the state.
In 2019, Trinamool bagged 22 seats in comparison with the BJP’s 18, with respective vote percentages of 43.3 and 40.7. However in 2021, Mamata Banerjee led the TMC to a landslide victory within the meeting elections, securing a formidable 215 seats.
Regardless of the BJP’s vigorous campaigning, it solely managed to get 77 seats. This, although, was a major enchancment on the get together’s 2016 tally of a mere three seats.
The state sends the third-highest variety of representatives to the 543-member Lok Sabha, trailing solely Uttar Pradesh (80) and Maharashtra (48).
Odisha
Odisha has 21 Lok Sabha seats and 147 meeting constituencies.
In 2019, the BJD gained 12 Lok Sabha seats, whereas the BJP received eight and the Congress secured one. Within the meeting elections the identical yr, the BJD bagged 112 seats, whereas the BJP gained 23, and the Congress received 9.
The bonhomie between Patnaik and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an open secret. Whereas PM Modi has hailed Patnaik as a “Lokpriya (well-liked)” chief minister, the latter has stated that the prime minister had set the course for India to develop into “an financial powerhouse”.
Regardless of not being a part of the ruling coalition, the Biju Janata Dal has voted with the federal government on contentious points such because the Citizenship (Modification) Act, Items, and Providers Tax (GST), demonetisation, and the proposal for ‘one nation, one election’, in addition to the polls for the President’s put up, each in 2017 and 2022.
The 2 events have been allies from 1998 till 2009. Previous to changing into the chief minister, Naveen Patnaik was a union minister in late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cupboard within the Nineties.
Assam
A key state, Assam is the gateway to the Northeast and shares worldwide boundaries with Bangladesh and Bhutan. Earlier than 2014, the Congress had a considerable maintain however, after that, the BJP has consolidated itself within the state’s tumultuous id politics, stemming from the ULFA motion that was partially resolved final yr after 44 years of insurgency.
Additionally, this would be the first ballot in Assam after the Election Fee of India (ECI) carried out the delimitation train for the state final yr, which was strongly criticised by the opposition events alleging that it was completed to assist the ruling BJP. There are a complete of 14 Lok Sabha constituencies and 126 meeting segments within the state, the place the BJP is in energy.
The principle contest can be between the BJP-led Nationwide Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition INDIA bloc.
The BJP is combating in alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United Individuals’s Get together Liberal (UPPL). The INDIA bloc, in the meantime, is contesting alongside Assam Jatiya Parishad and the CPI(M). Different minor events within the play embody the AAP, TMC, Nationwide Individuals’s Get together, AIUDF, and Bodoland Individuals’s Entrance.
The BJP can be contesting 11 seats whereas it has given two seats to the AGP and one to the UPPL. The saffron get together can be contesting on the “double engine improvement” plank with the tagline ‘Modi hai to mumkin hai’ in focus.
The Congress, in the meantime, has introduced candidates for 12 out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats. It has provided one seat to Assam Jatiya Parishad, whereas there isn’t a choice but on the remaining constituency. One of many outstanding names contesting is Congress deputy chief within the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, who has received a ticket from Jorhat.
Within the 2019 normal election, the BJP gained 9 out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats whereas the Congress gained three, AIUDF bagged one seat, whereas one other was gained by an Impartial. This was the saffron get together’s highest tally within the state but, whereas the Congress registered a decline in vote share.
The BJP had a vote share of 36.1 per cent, whereas the Congress and AIUDF had 35.4 per cent and seven.8 per cent, respectively.
Northeast
Of the seven northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Tripura, have two Lok Sabha seats every, whereas Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim have one every.
The area holds significance because of its location and the boundaries it shares with neighbouring nations corresponding to China.
The states have been beforehand primarily led by regional events, however after the 2014 and 2019 normal elections, the BJP has slowly established a agency footing in these elements.
Whereas operating majority governments in Manipur, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP can be a associate within the ruling coalitions in Meghalaya and Nagaland. The one state within the area presently the place the saffron get together is within the opposition in Mizoram.
