Elections 2019: Election Commission will announce poll dates soon

The announcement of dates will be followed by a meeting of election observers next week. Pic/PTI

Just as the suspense is building over the schedule of the much-awaited Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India is expected to come out with the crucial dates anytime soon.

According to reports, the panel may announce the poll schedule today or early next week. The Election Commission is set to have finalised the dates of the polls and also concluded preparatory meetings. Also, it was scheduled to hold a crucial meeting on Saturday to discuss the final modalities of the parliamentary polls. The elections are likely to be held over seven or eight phases in April-May, sources said.

The announcement of dates will be followed by a meeting of election observers next week for the first and second phase of polling. In 2009, the commission had announced Lok Sabha poll schedule on March 2. The five-phase polls began on April 16 and ended on May 13.

In 2014, the commission had announced the election schedule on March 5 and the nine-phase electoral exercise was spread across April and May. While the first phase polling was on April 7, the last phase was on May 12. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3.

BJP to do away with the 'above 75' rule
In a hope to continue his winning streak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to contest from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi seat again in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The second seat will be finalised later. A decision in this regard was taken at BJP Parliamentary Board meeting held on Friday, which was held for nearly three hours to discuss key poll-related issues. The PM had defeated Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal with over three lakh votes in the last elections. Besides the seat for PM Modi, the BJP members also came to a conclusion that there will be no blanket ban on leaders above 75 years of age. Any candidate who is capable of winning, even if he or she is above 75, will be given a ticket, a source close to the development said.

Lalu to select seats, candidates from jail
RJD chief Lalu Prasad will have the final say on the selection of candidates and choice of alliance partners for the Lok Sabha elections and Assembly bypolls, his party said on Saturday. The decision was made at the RJD's central parliamentary board meeting which was preceded by another meeting in Patna.

'Top three issues to be jobs, jobs and jobs'
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday hit out at the Centre over alleged lack of job creation, saying the three main issues in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls would be jobs, jobs and jobs. "What is worse? Not creating jobs or lying about creation of jobs?" Chidambaram asked in a tweet, alleging that the NDA government was guilty of both. "The top three issues in the elections will be jobs, jobs and jobs."

Rahul Gandhi starts Telangana rally
Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed a gathering in Telangana. He attacked BJP and the PM, raising questions on the decision by the then central government to release Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar from jail in a hostage crisis situation in 1999. He added that Congress would never bow down to terrorism.

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