The Election Commission has announced the dates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which will be spread over 44 days, making it the second-longest voting period after the first parliamentary elections of 1951-52.
With 44 days to cast ballots, the 2024 Lok Sabha election would be the second-longest voting period ever, after only the 1951–1952 first legislative elections, which went over four months. The total days of the electoral process this time, from the announcement of the polls by the Election Commission on Saturday till counting of votes, is 82.
Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases beginning from April 19 and the counting of votes will take place on June 4 for the world’s biggest election exercise in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bid for a third consecutive term.
When questioned about the lengthy polling process, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar stated during a news conference on Saturday that dates are chosen based on the topography of the regions as well as other considerations including public holidays, festivals, and exams.
Speaking at the conference, he said, “Look at the geography of the country…there are rivers, mountains, snow, jungle, summers…think of the security forces’ movements, they will move in the gaps between phases, through the length and breadth of the country…imagine the pressure on them."
"There are festivals and exams…when we sit with the calendar, we fix one date, then it has to be changed…,” he added.
The country’s first general election was held between October 25, 1951, and February 21, 1952, the longest so far. During the 1951-52 election, 489 seats of the Lok Sabha were allotted across 401 constituencies in 25 states. Due to the challenging logistics, the election was held in 68 phases.
The shortest election was held in 1980 — from January 3 to 6 — when Indira Gandhi was voted back to power.
In 2004, the four-phase Lok Sabha polls took 21 days; in 2009, there were five phases and the process was a month long. In 2014, the election was held in nine phases, and took 36 days.