GUWAHATI: The Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora announced the election dates for one of the largest democracies in the world.
Earlier today at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, the CEC informed that the LS Elections, 2019 will be held in 7 phases across the country.
Dates:
- 1st phase polling to be held on 11th April.
- 2nd phase on 18th April.
- 3rd phase on 23rd April.
- 4th phase polling to be held on 29th April
- 5th phase polling on 6th May.
- 6th phase polling on 12th May.
- 7th phase 19th May
While the option for NOTA is applicable for voters, the voters this time will also be able to see candidates' photos.
The EC will also set up 10 lakh voting booths this time, as compared to 9 lakh last time. With 10 per cent increase in the number of voting booths this time, the CEC announced that all the booths will have VVPATS. VVPAT is a Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verifiable paper record (VPR) which is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system.
Additionally, the EC will keep a close watch at the booths as the polling booths will be extensively webcasted and all critical events will be videographed. Privacy of people who report violations will be protected and they will be informed of action taken.
Keeping a watch on Digital and Social Media channels, Google, Facebook, YouTube have also put in checks and security measures to ensure that all political ads will be certified.
More updates coming in.