Lok Sabha election to be held in 5 phases beginning 16 April

The Election Commission has announced the schedule for the general elections for constituting the 15th Lok Sabha as also general elections to the Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim assemblies,

Counting will take place on the 16 May 2009 and is expected to be completed on the same day.

The commission said it has forwarded its recommendations to the President, for issuing five notifications calling upon the parliamentary constituencies covered in each phase in the states and union territories concerned to elect members to the Lok Sabha. With this, the campaign days for the constituencies in each phase has been kept to the possible minimum.

Since the tenure of the legislative assemblies of the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim will expire on 30 May 2009, 29 June 2009 and 23 May 2009, respectively, elections to these state assemblies will also be held simultaneously.

For elections to the Sikkim assembly, the same schedule as far the corresponding parliamentary constituency will be followed up to the date of counting and the date before which the election shall be completed is 23 May 09, the Commission said.

The Commission has also decided to hold by-elections to the following seven assembly constituencies which are listed below. Bye elections in these constituencies will be conducted following the same schedule as for the relevant parliamentary constituency.
 
Jharkhand 9-Jamtara; Karnataka 50-Bidar; Mizoram 29-South Tuipai; Nagaland 3-Dimapur-III(ST), 17-Chizami(ST), 41-Tizit(ST) and 54-Tuensang Sadar-II(ST).

The Lok Sabha election will be held in five phases as per the schedule given below: