Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Election Commission declared the schedule for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on Saturday (March 16). The General Elections 2024 for the 18th Lok Sabha will be held in 7 phases, starting from April 19. The results will be declared on June 4. With this, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar along with newly-appointed Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu announced the much-anticipated poll dates for the 2024 parliamentary polls. The first phase would be held on April 19 and the second on April 26. The third phase will be held on May 7 and fourth on May 13, the fifth on May 20, the sixth on May 25 and the seventh phase on June 1.
The Election Commission said 102 constituencies will go for polls in the first phase on April 19, followed by 89 constituencies in the second phase on April 26, 94 constituencies in the third, 96 in the fourth phase, 49 in the fifth phase, 57 in the sixth phase and 57 in the seventh phase.
VIP constituencies: Who is contesting from where?
PM Narendra Modi - Varanasi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest once again from Varanasi, as per the first list of 195 BJP candidates released earlier this year, while Congress is yet to declare its candidate. The PM won the seat in 2019 with a margin of 4,79,505 votes, defeating Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Shalini Yadav who got 1,95,159 votes. This year, polling in Varanasi will be held in the seventh and last phase on June 1.
Rahul Gandhi - Wayanad
Congress has fielded Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad yet again this year. Gandhi won the seat in 2019with a margin of 4,31,770 votes, defeating CPI candidate PP Suneer. The Republican Party of India (Athawale) has nominated vice-president Nusrat Jahan as NDA candidate against Gandhi in Wayanad. The polling in the constituency will take place in the second phase on April 26.
Amit Shah - Gandhinagar
Union Home Minister has been re-nominated from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat, which has been a BJP stronghold for 30 years. Shah won the seat for the first time with a margin of 5,57,014 votes in 2019, defeating Congress' CJ Chavda. The Congress is yet to announce its candidate for the seat. The polling in Gandhinagar will be held in the third phase on May 7.
Nitin Gadkari - Nagpur
The BJP nominated Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur seat in Maharashtra again. Gadkari won the seat for the second time in a row with a margin of 2,16,009 votes in 2019, defeating Congress candidate Nana Patole. No other candidates have been announced yet. The polling for this seat will take place in the fifth phase on April 19.
Smriti Irani - Amethi
Union Minister Smriti Irani has been nominated once again from the Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, while there are rumours that Congress is likely to field Rahul Gandhi again. Irani dealt an upset by defeating Gandhi in Amethi with a margin of 55,120 votes. The polling for this seat will be held in the fifth phase on May 20.
Asaduddin Owaisi - Hyderabad
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin will contest from the Hyderabad seat in Telangana once again, facing off against BJP's Madhavi Latha. Owaisi won the seat with a margin of 2,82,186 votes, defeating BJP's Bhagavanth Rao. This year, the polling will be held in Hyderabad in the fourth phase on May 13.
Rajnath Singh - Lucknow
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has been re-nominated from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh in the first list. The seat has been previously represented by former PM Atal Vihari Bajpayee and Singh won the eat for the second consecutive time in 2019 with a margin of 3,47,302 votes, defeating SP candidate Poonam Shatrughan Sinha. The polling for Lucknow in 2019 will be held in the fifth phase on May 20.
Piyush Goyal - Mumbai North
The BJP has surprisingly nominated Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for the first time as the candidate from Maharashtra's Mumbai North constituency. BJP's Gopal Shetty won the constituency in 2019 with a margin of 4,65,247 votes, defeating Congress' Urmila Matondkar. The elections in Mumbai North will be held in the fifth phase on May 20.
Shashi Tharoor - Thiruvananthapuram
Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor has been re-nominated from the Thiruvananthapuram seat while the BJP has fielded Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar and the CPI nominated Pannyan Raveendran. In 2019, Tharoor defeated BJP's Kummanam Rajasekharan by a margin of 99,989 votes. The polling will take place in the second phase on April 26.
Bansuri Swaraj - New Delhi
Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, has been nominated by the BJP, replacing Union Minister of State Meenakshi Lekhi. The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) nominated Somnath Bharti from the seat. Lekhi who had won the seat for the second time in a row with a margin of 2,56,504 votes in 2019. The polling for this seat will be held in the sixth phase on May 25.
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