Lok Sabha elections 2024 schedule: 97 crore to vote at 10.5 lakh poll stations

Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday announced that 97 crore voters will exercise their franchise at the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024. Ahead of announcement of schedule for the Lok Sabha election and the state assembly elections, Kumar listed some key highlights of the upcoming elections that will take place over the period of next two months. Lok Sabha election dates LIVE coverage1. The voters will be able to cast their votes at 10.5 lakh polling stations that will be managed by 1.5 crore polling officials and security staff. 2. The elections will be conducted using 55 lakh electronic voting machines (EVMs) that will be carried in four lakh vehicles. 3. The chief election commissioner said there are 97.8 crore eligible voters of which 49.72 crore were male voters and 47.1 crore were female voters. Kumar said there are 1.82 crore first-time voters. 4. The last 11 state elections were peaceful and violence-free with near-zero re-polls, the election commission chief said, adding that this will further be improved going forward. 5. There were a total of 91.2 crore eligible voters with about 43.8 crore female voters and nearly 47.3 crore male voters. 6. A total of about 61.5 crore votes were cast and the voter turnout was 67.4 per cent, the poll panel chief said. 7. According to the Election Commission, the ratio of women voters is higher than men voters in 12 states. 8. “Adequate number of CAPF would be deployed to control muscle power. We are determined to reduce muscle power this time. There should be no place of violence in elections, and bloodbath should not happen at all,” Rajiv Kumar added. 9. Strict vigil over illicit online cash transfers, suspicious transactions through payment wallets, Kumar added. 10. “Money seizures rose by 835% to ₹3,400 crore in last 11 state polls during 2022-23. We won’t allow misuse of money power,” the chief election commissioner added.