Lok Sabha Elections 2024 – A complete guide

Around 100 crore Indians will cast their vote in Lok Sabha elections 2024. And it is also known to be the world’s biggest election to select the Prime Minister of India and MPs (Member of Parliament). First and second phase of elections already started on 19th April and 26th April. It is a 44 day long election process to be carried out in 7 phases in all states and union territories across the country.

Pre-poll survey showed that ruling nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party should secure comfortable victory and hold the power again for next 5 years straight in this Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
Registered Indians will cast their vote to elect 543 seats of Lok Sabha which is also called as the most powerful lower house of the Parliament. The country’s economic success over the previous ten years, farmers, a contentious citizenship law, and the right-wing government’s push for a Hindu-majority nation will all be major campaign themes in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

When is India’s Lok Sabha Elections 2024?

Election will take place across 28 states and 8 union territories in seven phases. First and second phase already took place on 19th and 26th April respectively. 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and final phase will be conducted on 7,13,20,25 of May and 1st of June respectively. Every phase of elections will be of 1 day only and conducted across variety of states and remote villages of the country. 

Phase

Date

Constituencies

States/UTs

Phase 1

April 19

102

21

Phase 2

April 26

89

13

Phase 3

May 7

94

12

Phase 4

May 13

96

10

Phase 5

May 20

49

8

Phase 6

May 25

57

7

Phase 7

June 1

57

8

Political Parties, recent statistics and current scenario

2400+ political parties and expected to put up candidates for Lok Sabha elections 2024. Only 10 political parties hold around 86 percent of all the seats of Lok Sabha (Lower house of Parliament). A party needs a simple majority of 272 seats in the lower house of the Parliament. Mr. Narendra Modi led BJP won the Lok Sabha election in 2019 with 303 seats and followed by INC (Indian National Congress) won 52 seats.

131 seats are reserved for MPs from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in lower house.
Election Commission of India stated that there must be a polling booth for every voter in the radius of 2km. This is due to the hard task for Himalayan people to travel far from mountains to polling booth to cast their vote. Same applies for the western desert places too.
Mr. Narendra Modi said this as “Biggest Festival of Democracy”.

Why it takes 44 day long to complete electoral process?

For this Lok Sabha Elections 2024, the government can send out tens of thousands of militaries to carry voting machines and electoral workers while also preventing political violence it is because of 6 week long electoral process.

A group of poll officers traveled 480 kilometers over four days to reach a solitary voter in a village in the remote state of Arunachal Pradesh, which shares borders with China, during the last general election.

India also has the highest polling station in the world, which was made feasible by a group of officials who hiked 15,000 feet via the Himalayas to set up a booth. 

Powers of Lok Sabha

1. It can hold the government accountable by introducing or by passing no confidence motion. 
2. Constitutional Powers – Lok Sabha has the power to change the constitution but the fact is special majority of both the houses of parliament is needed to do this. But Lok Sabha is powerful among the both the houses.
3. Legislative Powers – Lok Sabha can create laws that govern the country.
4. Executive Powers – Lok Sabha has the power to remove all the council of Ministers.
5. Financial Powers – Tax collection is impossible without the approval of Lok Sabha

What needs to be done?

It is essential to provide the Model Code of Conduct statutory support in order to fortify the Election Commission of India and remove any doubt regarding its application. A shadow cabinet, modeled after the British system, can also be established to strengthen the role of the opposition, promote balanced governance, and train future ministers. Better representation of different society segments can be ensured by enacting statutory reforms, such as establishing a hybrid voting system that combines proportional representation with first-past-the-post. Furthermore, in order to preserve the independence of the legislatures of each state and the Parliament, it is imperative that the privileges of legislators be codified. This may include amending Article 105 in order to provide clarification on parliamentary privileges.

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CAA: Citizenship Amendment Act