Lok Sabha Elections 2024 - Top News

• The upcoming polls for the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament) will take place on seven days between April 19 and June 1. Results will be declared on June 4.
• Nearly 970 million people are eligible to cast vote in the upcoming polls at over a million(10,48,202, to be precise) polling stations.
• There will be 18 million first-time voters and 194.7 million voters between the age group of 20-29 years. Half a million more will turn 18 on April 1 this year.
• More than 471 million women are on the electoral rolls this year, that’s about 948 female voters for every 1,000 men. 48,044 transgenders are enlisted voters.
• 8.5 million among the women voters are aged between 18 and 19. 8.2 million voters are 85 years or older.
• There are 2,18,442 electors over 100 years old.
• Twelve states in India have more women voters on the list than men.
• There will be 15 million polling officials and security staff.
• Over 2150 senior officers from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) as well as officers from Indian Revenue Service (IRS) will be deployed as observers.
• A maximum of 1,500 voters are allowed for every polling station.
• 2,798 political parties are registered with the Election Commission of India as on March 5, 2024. But only 6 national parties and 58 state parties have ear-marked symbols.

Lok Sabha election, or the general election, takes place once in five years. People vote to elect members to the lower house of the Indian Parliament. A tenure of the Lok Sabha is for five years. However, the President may dissolve the House earlier in certain situations.

There are 543 seats in the Lok Sabha. As per the Election Commission, the maximum number of elected members to the house of people is 550. Article 81 of the Constitution says that a maximum of 530 members will be elected from the states and 20 members from Union Territories. The President can nominate two members from the Anglo Indian Community.

Each constituency will elect only one member. Prior to 1962, there were both single and multi-member constituencies. The multi-member constituencies were abolished in 1962.

A person must be registered as a voter. Sec 4(d) of Representation People Act, 1951 precludes a person from contesting unless he is an elector in any parliamentary constituency. A non-citizen cannot be a candidate in the elections.

25 years. Chandrani Murmu is the youngest MP in the current session of Lok Sabha. The 25-year-old Biju Janata Dal MP represents the Keonjhar constituency in Odisha.

As per Section 34(1)(a) of the Representation of People Act, every candidate is required to make a security deposit of Rs. 25,000. The deposit is Rs 12,500 for a candidate belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe.

Section 33 (7) of Representation of People Act says a person can contest from a maximum of two constituencies for Lok Sabha polls.

A defeated candidate who fails to secure more than one sixth of the valid votes polled in the constituency will lose his security deposit. [also worth mentioning how much is the deposit amount] - I have mentioned in the above question.

At present, the limit of expenditure for a constituency in bigger states is Rs 40 lakh, under Rule 90 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. The lowest limit is Rs 16 lakh for a constituency of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep.

Every Indian citizen who has attained the age of 18 years on the qualifying date i.e. first day of January of the year of revision of electoral roll, unless otherwise disqualified, is eligible to vote.

No. A person who is not a citizen of India is not eligible for registration as a voter. Even those who have ceased to be citizens of India cannot vote if they have acquired the citizenship of another country.

Yes. According to the provisions of Sec 20A of the Representation of People Act, 1950, a person who is a citizen of India and who has not acquired the citizenship of any other country can be registered as a voter. The person can exercise his/her franchise.

The Election Commission normally orders revision of the existing electoral roll every year. One can submit a claim application (Form 6) during the period for lodging claims and objections to the Electoral Registration Officer.

The first general election was held in India during 1951-1952. The strength of Lok Sabha at that time was 489.