New Delhi: The Election Commission of India said it will announce the poll schedule to the Lok Sabha and four State Assemblies on Saturday.
The poll panel posted a brief statement on X handle and said dates for four Assembly polls - scheduled to be held around the same time - would also be announced. The four states expected to vote in April/May are Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim.
The poll panel-led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar ended its tour with visiting Jammu Kashmir as its last official tour to a state/UT to take stock of the poll preparedness ahead of General Elections 2024.
The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 16 and a new House has to be constituted before that.
Last time, the Lok Sabha polls were announced on March 10 and held in seven phases beginning April 11. Votes were counted on May 23.
The word around was that the Commission had previously fixed Thursday to announce the General Elections schedule. The sudden resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel on March 9, threw a spanner in the plans of the Commission.
The ruling saffron party BJP, Congress, TMC and other political parties have already started announcing their candidates for the upcoming high stakes polls.
Meanwhile, the poll watchdog Thursday night made public the data on electoral bonds it received from the State Bank of India.
Hours before that, a high level committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the names of two new Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.
On Friday, both took charge as ECs complementing the CEC at the ECI headquarters in New Delhi.
Sources have told ETV Bharat that the poll body is all geared up to conduct the elections and that all preparations have already been done including the security arrangements.
The two new ECs who joined the office were briefed about all the preparations the Commission has made so far and their role.
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