EC Visits Andhra Pradesh as Countdown to Lok Sabha & Assembly Elections Begins; More States Planned

With Lok Sabha elections and assembly polls taking place in four states in the next few weeks, the Election Commission has started its final stage of preparations with its visit to Andhra Pradesh.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel reached Vijayawada on Monday night for the three-day visit to review the poll preparedness. They will be interacting with the media on Wednesday regarding the preparations.

The ECI team met with political parties and District Election officers (DEO), Superintendent of Police (SP) and Commissioner of Police (CP) on Tuesday to review poll preparedness in the state. Earlier, political party representatives also met the Commission at Vijayawada.

In June, the terms of Lok Sabha, and assemblies in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will be ending.

In 2019, the Lok Sabha elections were announced on March 10. Polling was done in seven phases between April 11 and May 19 while the counting of the votes took place on May 23. These four states will witness simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and assemblies.

The schedule of ECI’s visit for other states is not yet finalised so far. However, they are expected to visit other states and Union Territories in the coming weeks.

Usually, a few weeks before announcing the elections, the CEC takes a tour of the poll-bound states to meet the concerned parties and to check and oversee the preparations.

In 2023, during August and September, the team visited Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram before announcing the schedule on October 9. These states went for polls between November 7 and 30 and the results were announced on December 3.

What Happened in 2019?

In 2019, the BJP, under the leadership of Narendra Modi, retained power for the second time with a record tally. The National Democratic Alliance(NDA) swept 350 seats against its previous 336 in 2014.

In Andhra Pradesh, the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) swept the elections by winning 151 of the 175 seats.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP won 41 out of 60 seats.

In Odisha, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) bagged 112 of the 147 assembly seats, while in Sikkim, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha won 17 out of the 32 assembly seats.