Election starts
Fri 19 Apr 2024
Election Ends
Sat 1 Jun 2024
Results announcement
Tue 4 June 2024
Number of lawmakers to be elected, ie, number of seats in Parliament
543 (from 28 States and 8 Union Territories)
Of these, 412 are for general, 84 for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, and 47 for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates.
Number of constituencies
543 in 28 states and 8 Union Territories
Polling is staggered across 7 phases
Phase 1 (19 April) will see voting in 102 seats
Phase 2 (26 April), 89 seats
Phase 3 (7 May), 94 seats
Phase 4 (13 May), 96 seats
Phase 5 (20 May), 49 seats
Phase 6 (25 May), 57 seats
Phase 7 (1 June), 57 seats.
Number of registered voters for the Lok Sabha Elections
968 million (497 million males, 471 million female, 48,044 third gender)
The electoral roll has seen an addition of over 20 million new voters in the age group 18-29 – with more females than males.
Number of voting booths
1.25 million (Electoral rules stipulate that there must be a polling station within 2 km of every habitation).
Number of election officials
15 million
(The Election Commission of India, which oversees the conduct of General Election every five years, usually has a staff of 400-450 personnel)
Thousands of security personnel from central and state forces, as well as railway officials, will also be called upon to help.
Number of Electronic Voting Machines in the Lok Sabha Elections
5.5 million (55 lakh) EVMs will be in use in the first phase of polling on 19 April.
Estimate of spend by political parties
In excess of US $14.4 billion (Source: Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi)
India’s Supreme Court this year invalidated a secretive scheme that permitted anonymous political contributions through electoral bonds.
Another innovation The Election Commission will set up control rooms to weed out fake election content on social media.
What is absolute majority – ie, how many seats need to be won to form government?
A party or coalition needs to secure a majority of at least 50%, which is 272 seats in the Lok Sabha
Number of political parties in the fray
Approximately 2400 (including national, state and ‘unrecognised’ parties).
The main political parties
Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Communist Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, National People’s Party, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), DMK, AIDMK, Biju Janata Dal.
Prime Ministerial Candidates
Narendra Modi (BJP) and Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress)
Sources: Election Commission of India, Reuters, AFP
Compiled by Torsha Sen and Rajni Anand Luthra
Read more: Barry O’Farrell on India: ‘A remarkable adventure’