Lok Sabha polls in five phases

The constitution of the 15th Lok Sabha is in process with EC annoucing the schedule the poll panel said a total of 714 million electorate will cast their votes on 16th 23rd, 30th April and 7th and 13th May to elect the 543-member House.Counting of votes will take place on 16th May, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami, flanked by Election Commissioners Navin Chawla and S Y Quraishi, announced at a press conference at New Delhi on Monday.

Uttar Pradesh, which has the maximum of 80 seats, and Jammu and Kashmir will have five-phase polls while Bihar will go to polls in four stages.Maharashtra and West Bengal will have three phased polls, while Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Orissa and Punjab will have voting in two stages.
The remaining 15 states and seven union territories will have one-day poll, he said.
Assembly elections to Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim will also be held along with the Lok Sabha polls.The elections will be held for the first time in the redrawn constituencies.
Fifteenth Lok Sabha is required to be constituted before the 2nd June 2009.

The following is the polling schedule for states announced by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami on Monday.
Phase 1
16th April- Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andaman and Nicobar Island, Lakshadweep.
Phase 2
23rd April- Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Orissa, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Phase 3
30th April- Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Phase 4
7th May- Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi.
Phase 5
13th May- Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Chandigargh and Puducherry.
11 ‘General’ Lok Sabha seats become ‘Reserved’The category of as many as 11 Lok Sabha constituencies have undergone change from General to Reserve in the coming parliamentary elections following redrawing of seats.
Of the 543 total seats, 84 have been reserved for Scheduled Castes — an increase of five seats over 2004 elections, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalawami said at a press conference at new Delhi on Monday.
Similarly, 47 constituencies have been earmarked for Scheduled Tribes category — an increase of six seats, he said.
Model code of conduct has come into force with immediate effect, the CEC said.

The upcoming polls will also witness for the first time use of photo electoral rolls in 522 out of the 543 constituencies.At least 71.4 crore voters will be eligible to elect the next Lok Sabha, an increase of 4.3 crore over the last general elections in 2004.A massive deployment of 40 lakh civil personnel and 21 lakh police personnel will be made for the smooth conduct of elections.