EC may announce Lok Sabha poll schedule in March

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India is likely to announce the dates for the Lok Sabha polls in the first week of March.  Sources indicated that the Election Commission is in the process of deciding the number of phases and the months in which polling would be held. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3.

The announcement is likely to be made in first week of March, with the finalisation of  poll phases depending on the availability of security forces and other requirements, sources added. There is a possibility that the poll panel may go by the precedent and hold Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh along with Lok Sabha polls, sources said.

Since the J&K Assembly has been dissolved, the EC is bound to hold fresh polls there within six months. It was dissolved in November, 2018 and the upper limit ends in May. The poll panel may hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir along with the Lok Sabha polls as well. But J&K elections can be held before that also as much depends on the complex security situation there, sources said.

In normal circumstances, the J&K assembly’s six-year term was to end on March 16, 2021. The other state assemblies and the Lok Sabha have a five-year term.  While the term of the Sikkim Assembly ends on May 27, 2019, the terms of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Arunachal Pradesh Assemblies end on June 18, June 11 and June 1 respectively.

In 2004, the EC had announced four-phase Lok Sabha polls on February 29.

While the first date of poll was April 20, the last date was May 10.  In 2009, the EC had announced Lok Sabha poll scheduled on March 2.

The five-phase polls began on April 16 and ended on May 13. In 2014, the EC had announced the election schedule on March 5 and the nine-phase electoral exercise was spread across April and May. While the first phase polling was on April 7, the last phase was on May 12.