Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The elections for the 18th Lok Sabha will take place in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The result will be declared on June 4. The Lok Sabha has 543 elected members and 102 constituencies will go for polls in the first phase on April 19. Voters in 89 seats will use their franchise in the second phase on April 26 whereas the third phase will be held on May 7 in 94 constituencies. The fourth phase will be held on May 13 (96 seats), the fifth phase on May 20 (49 seats), the sixth phase on May 25 (57 seats) and the seventh and last phase on June 1 (57 seats). The elections are likely to be a very keen contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A bloc). Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP is likely to contest the highest number of seats in its electoral history this time.
Several parties are contesting under the umbrella of NDA this election. The Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is likely to contest 12 to 13 seats in Maharashtra whereas Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will contest 5 seats in the state. The Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has fielded its candidates in 17 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh. The Janata Dal-United (JDU) of Nitish Kumar and Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP-Ram Vilas) will contest 16 and 5 seats respectively in Bihar. The BJP has left 10 Lok Sabha seats for the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) of Anbumani Ramadoss, 3 for the GK Vasan-led Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar), 2 for the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazhagam (AMMK) of TTV Dhinakaran in Tamil Nadu. The saffron party has also decided to leave 2 seats each for Anupriya Patel's Apna Dal (Soneylal) and Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and one for the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) of Om Prakash Rajbhar.
The other NDA partners are Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS: 4 seats in Kerala), Janata Dal-Secular (JDS: 3 seats in Karnataka), Jana Sena Party (JSP: 2 seats in Andhra Pradesh), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP: 2 seats in Assam), National People's Party (NPP: 2 seats in Meghalaya), United People's Party Liberal (UPPL: 1 seat in Assam), All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU: 1 seat in Jharkhand), Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP: 1 seat in Nagaland), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM: 1 seat in Bihar), Naga People's Front (NPF: 1 seat in Nagaland), Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM: 1 seat in Bihar), Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RASP: 1 seat in Maharashtra) and 1 Independent in Tamil Nadu. Several parties such as Puthiya Needhi Katchi (PNK), NISHAD Party, Tipra Motha Party (TMP), Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK), Indhiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam (IMKMK) and Tamilaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) are contesting on BJP's Lotus symbol in the elections.
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