New Delhi: Voting for the first phase will be held on April 11 across 20 states covering 91 seats. Second phase polling will be held on April 18 covering 12 states and 97 seats, while the third phase of polling will take place on April 23 on 115 seats covering 14 states. The fourth phase will be held on April 29 covering nine states and 71 seats, while the fifth phase voting will be conducted on May 6 across seven states covering 51 seats.
The penultimate sixth phase of polling will be conducted on May 12 in 59 seats spreading across seven states, while the last and seventh phase of voting will also be held in 59 seats across eight states on May 19.
The national capital territory of Delhi will go to polls during the sixth phase on May 12.
Rajasthan, Karnataka, Manipur and Tripura will have polls in two phases. Assam and Chhattisgarh will have polling in three phases, while four states which have been and still continue to be affected by Naxal violence namely Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra will have four-phased polling.
Jammu & Kashmir will have a five-phase polling process, while the politically crucial states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal will have seven-phase polling.
In 2014, the Lok Sabha elections were held across nine phases beginning April 7 and ending May 9. Votes were counted on May 16.
The total contestants in fray were 8,251, with an average of 15 candidates in each constituency. A total of over 55 crore voters (66.3 per cent) exercised their vote.
