New Delhi:
The Election Commission is set to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections today. There is a strong possibility that the poll panel may go by the precedent and hold assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh along with the general elections.
Three of these states are ruled by non-BJP parties, where the BJP has been trying to crave a niche.
The term of the governments in all the four states are set to end by April-May this year. Meanwhile, the term of the 16th Lok Sabha ends on June 3.
Since the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has been dissolved, the EC is bound to hold fresh polls there as well within a six-month period, which will end in May.
While there is a view that the J-K assembly elections can be held along with the Lok Sabha polls, a lot depends on the complex security situation in the state given the heightened tension along the India-Pakistan border.
The Centre and the state administration, being managed by the Centre-appointed Governor, are against holding the two elections together.
However, all political parties in the state favoured simultaneous polls during a meeting with the Election Commission earlier this week.
The J-K assembly's six-year term was to end on March 16, 2021, but it got dissolved after a ruling coalition between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fell apart.
This is a high probability of the elections being spread across 7-8 phases this time. In 2004, the Commission had announced four-phase Lok Sabha polls on February 29. While the first date of polling was April 20 and the last date was May 10.
In 2009, the commission had announced Lok Sabha poll scheduled 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.
