Amidst all the election madness and furore, here are some interesting facts about Lok Sabha Elections 2019 that you should definitely know about -
1. The Lok Sabha elections 2019 are the largest elections ever held in the world history.
2. The Election Commission of India is a constitutional body that manages the elections in the country.
3. The 7 phase election will begin on April 11 in 543 constituencies and the results will be announced on 23rd May 2019. The polling will end on 19th May. Find out phase wise elections voting schedule here.
4. About 900 million (90 crore) people are eligible to vote i.e. almost triple the population of United States of America. Around 1.5 crore voters belong to an age bracket of between 18 to 19.
5. There will be more than 464 political parties and 8000 candidates who will be fighting for elections across the country.
6. Voting is spread across 29 states and 7 union territories. However, Uttar Pradesh with its mammoth size has about 80 Lok Sabha constituencies, which is the key to who wins the elections. Around 200 million people live in Uttar Pradesh and if UP were a country, it would be 5th largest in the world. Other key states would be Maharashtra (48 seats), West Bengal (42 seats), Bihar (40 seats) and Tamil Nadu (39 seats).
7. Besides Lok Sabha elections, assembly polls will also be held for 4 states namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha.
9. Social media has been added under the purview of model code of conduct.
10. This time the elections are clashing with the holy month of Ramadan and the opposition is claiming that the Modi government does not want minorities to vote. People will have to vote while they’re observing roza.
11. Facebook is planning to start a 24*7 operations centre in New Delhi to curb the misinformation and fake news menace during the elections. They are going to continually engage with the Election Commission of India. This has been done in the U.S. before.
12. Any candidates with a criminal background, for the first time are required to reveal the same in a newspaper or television in 3 occasions during the campaign. Similarly, the political parties are also required to publish this information on their websites and in the press for at least 3 occasions. Earlier the candidates had to declare this using an affidavit to the election commission and not go public with this information.
13. The Election Commission has taken into account the examination schedules of various state board before determining the dates.
14. A pre-certification will be required for all advertisements on social media.
The Election Commission of India has regarded the General Elections as the biggest festival in the celebration of democracy. With an electoral exercise of this magnitude, it makes it all the more interesting for the world to watch and learn from how India executes it so effervescently.
- Tanya Kathpal
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- Tanya Kathpal
Want to get published on EMN and join the community? Here is an opportunity to join the Board of Young Leaders Program by Eat My News. Click here to know more: bit.ly/boardofyoungleaders
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