Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Odisha, Sikkim to be held with Lok Sabha polls

Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Odisha and Sikkim will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections 2019, the Election Commission (EC) said on Sunday.

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora.

NEW DELHI: Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Odisha and Sikkim will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections 2019, the Election Commission (EC) said on Sunday. However, elections for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, which was dissolved after the ruling coalition between the BJP and the PDP fell apart, will not be held along with the general elections. Announcing the schedule for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said the 'voter verifiable paper audit trail' (VVPAT) will be used in all polling stations this time. The first phase will be held on April 11, second on April 18, third on April 23 and fourth on April 29, fifth on May 6, sixth on May 12 and seventh phase on May 19. Counting of votes for all seven phases covering 543 Lok Sabha constituencies would take place on May 23, Arora said. In the first phase, 91 constituencies will to go for polls, 97 constituencies in the second phase, 115 constituencies in the third, 71 in fourth phase, 51 in fifth phase, 59 in sixth and 59 in the seventh phase. The staggered election will see about 900 million voters, up from 814.5 million in 2014, when Narendra Modi led the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to power ending a decade of Congress-headed UPA rule. Of this, some 15 million will be first-time voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years.