LS elections: Important dates to remember

The Election Commission of India has announced the dates for the Lok Sabha elections 2014. The elections will begin on 7 April and end on 12 May. 16 May has been set as the counting date and the EC will complete counting on this day.

The following is the Lok Sabha election schedule in all states and union territories

April 7: Assam (5), Tripura (1)

April 9: Arunachal Pradesh (2), Manipur (1), Meghalaya (2), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1)

April 10: Bihar (6), Chhattisgarh (1), Haryana (10), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Jharkhand (5), Kerala (20), Madhya Pradesh (9), Maharashtra (10), Odisha (10), Uttar Pradesh (10), Andaman and Nicobar (1), Chandigarh (1), Lakshadweep (1), Delhi (7)

April 12: Sikkim (1), Tripura (1), Assam (3)

April 17: Bihar (7), Chhattisgarh (3), Goa (2), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Jharkhand (5), Karnataka (28), Madhya Pradesh (10), Maharashtra (19), Manipur (1), Odisha (11), Rajasthan (20), Uttar Pradesh (11), West Bengal (4)

April 24: Assam (6), Bihar (7), Chhattisgarh (7), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Jharkhand (4), Madhya Pradesh (10), Maharashtra (19), Rajasthan (5), Tamil Nadu (39), Uttar Pradesh (12), West Bengal (6), Puducherry (1)

April 30: Andhra Pradesh (17), Bihar (7), Gujarat (26), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Punjab (13), Uttar Pradesh (14), West Bengal (9), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1), Daman and Diu (1)

May 7: Andhra Pradesh (25), Bihar (7), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Uttar Pradesh (15), Uttarakhand (5), West Bengal (6), Himachal Pradesh (4)

May 12: Bihar (6), Uttar Pradesh (18), West Bengal (17)

Indian voters: 176 mn in 1952, 814 mn in 2014

The number of Indian voters has shot up from 176 million in the first general election held in 1952 to some 814 million in 2014, Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath said Wednesday.

Sampath told the media that the increase in the number of voters since the last Lok Sabha polls of 2009 was about 100 million. 

New system:

The Election Commission has ordered 20,000 voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) systems, Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath said Wednesday.

"The paper trail system was experimented with in two assembly constituencies in Nagaland and Mizoram. Induced by experimentation, we have ordered for the supply of 20,000 such machines," Sampath said at a press conference at which he announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections.

"We are awaiting for the machines. As soon as they are received, we will use them in as many constituencies as possible," he said.

Under this system, when a voter presses a button on the electronic voting machine to select the candidate he wants to vote for, a slip of paper bearing the name and symbol of the party will briefly appear for about 10 seconds, after which it fall into a secure box, thus maintaining a paper trail of all the votes cast.

Photo electoral rolls

The percentage of photo electoral rolls has increased from 82 percent in 2009 to 98.64 percent in 2014, Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath said here Wednesday.

"The photo electoral rolls have become a special feature of Indian elections which have helped streamline the identification process during the polls," he said.

The percentage of Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) has also increased from 82 percent to 95.64 percent, he said.

"We are also hopeful that the percentage of EPICs will reach 99 percent before the polls," he added.

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