Lok Sabha Election 2019: The Election Commission is likely to announce a detailed polling schedule for the high-voltage Lok Sabha elections today. The 17th Lok Sabha poll is likely to be spread over 7-8 phases in April-May, as per the sources. The poll panel will be holding a press conference today at 5 pm at Vigyan Bhavan in the national capital.

There is a strong possibility that the EC may go by the precedent and hold assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh along with the Lok Sabha polls. Since the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has been dissolved, the EC is bound to hold fresh polls there as well within a six-month period, which will end in May.

While Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra remain the major states where the BJP had done exceedingly well in the previous general elections, the party this time too could hold the key to retain its power and return to the throne by winning the impending elections.

The 2014 general election in Bihar was held in six phases on 10, 17, 24, 30 April, 7 and 12 May 2014.

In the last election, the BJP-led NDA had swept the battle by winning 31 seats out of 40, making its best performance ever. While Congress and SP managed to save their strongholds, BSP had to face astonishing defeat. However, now taking a separate path from the grand alliance, Mayawati-led BSP has decided to contest the 2019 general elections on its own in Bihar.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won 22 seats, LJP six and RLSP three in 2014 when the JD-U fought separately and could get only two seats. The RJD won four seats and the Congress two.

Here is all you need to know about Bihar ahead of the Lok Sabha polls-


Parliamentary Constituencies: 40

Number of voters: Around 7 crore

Voter turnout in 2014: 56.3%

2014 poll results: Party wise summary in Bihar-

NDA

• Bharatiya Janta Party - BJP contested on 30 seats in 2014 out of which it won 22 seats
• Lok Jan Shakti Party - LJSP contested on 7 seats, won 6
• Rashtriya Lok Samta Party - RLSP contested on 3 seats in 2014 and managed to bag all 3 of them

UPA

• Rashtriya Janata Dal - In 2014, RJD contested on 27 seats and won 4 seats
• Indian National Congress - INC contested on 12 seats while it manage to win only 2 seats
• Nationalist Congress Party - NCP contested on only 1 seat and won the same in 2014

Key leaders: Sushil Kumar Modi (BJP), Nitish Kumar (JD-U), Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP), Madan Mohan Jha (Congress), Upendra Kushwaha (RLSP), Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM-S)

Key issues: Governance, development, law and order, women’s empowerment and household electrification

All the political parties are in election mode ahead of the Lok Sabha polls 2019, which is being touted as one of the most crucial general elections, since this will the first time when BJP will contest elections after completing 5 years of Modi government.