The Election Commission has finalized the Schedule for General Elections after taking into account all relevant factors, to be held in five phases to constitute the 15th Lok Sabha.
The first phase of polls will be held on 16th April, 2009 (Thursday) in 124 parliamentary constituencies across 17 states & union territories.
The second phase of polls will be held on 23rd April, 2009 (Thursday) in 141 parliamentary constituencies across 13 states & union territories and 22nd April-2009, Wednesday for 1-Inner Manipur PC only.
The third phase of polls will be held on 30th April,2009 (Thursday) in 107 parliamentary constituencies across 11 states & union territories.
The fourth phase of polls will be held on 7th May, 2009 (Thursday) in 85 parliamentary constituencies across 8 states & union territories.
The fifth phase of polls will be held on 13th May, 2009 (Wednesday) in 86 parliamentary constituencies across 9 states & union territories.
The elections will be held in 5 phases in Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. Bihar will have 4 phases of elections, followed by Maharashtra and West Bengal with 3 phases. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Orissa and Punjab will have 2 phases and remaining 15 States and 7 Union Territories will have single phase of elections.
The Counting will take place on the 16th of May, 2009 and is expected to be completed on the same day.
The Election Commission has decided to forward its recommendations to the President, for issuing five notifications calling upon the Parliamentary Constituencies covered in each phase in the States and Union Territories concerned to elect members to the House of the People. With this, the campaign days for the Constituencies in each phase has been kept to the possible minimum.