West Bengal and Bihar will vote in all seven phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1 in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the Election Commission announced during its press conference on Saturday.
The poll schedule announcement has set a tone for an exciting contest in these two eastern states which together send 82 members to the Lok Sabha.
West Bengal Lok Sabha election schedule
Mamata Banerjee's bastion West Bengal sends 42 members to the Lok Sabha. The Bengali-speaking state has been witnessing a fierce contest between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP in recent years. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had registered its best performance in the state by winning 18 seats. In the assembly election held two years later, it achieved its highest ever tally by clinching 77 seats out of 294.
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Even in the previous general election, Bengal had voted in all seven phases. Reacting on the poll schedule, state minister Chandrima Bhattacharya told ANI,"We have already said that if voting will be conducted in 1 or 2 phases the voter's turnout is more, but no one listens to us. Elections are being conducted in 7 phases."
BJP's Samik Bhattacharya told HT,"The ECI did what it thought is required for free and fair polling because Bengal is the only state where violence is a salient feature of every election while other states celebrate the right to franchise like a festival."
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Bihar Lok Sabha election schedule
Like West Bengal, Bihar will also vote in all seven phases. The Lok Sabha poll contest in the state will be held after months after chief minister Nitish Kumar dumped Rashtriya Janata Dal and returned to the NDA fold.
Kumar, who had joined hands with the RJD in 2022, ended the alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. “Beech mein do baar idhar udhar zaroor ho gaye the. Lekin ab kabhi nahi. Phir wahin rahenge, ab idhar udhar nahi honge (Twice I moved out, but now I am here forever. I will not go anywhere)," he had recently said.
The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ is helmed by the Congress-RJD combine, which formed an alliance with the CPI(ML) Liberation ahead of assembly polls two-and-half years ago.
Like West Bengal, Bihar will also vote in all seven phases. The Lok Sabha poll contest in the state will be held after months after chief minister Nitish Kumar dumped Rashtriya Janata Dal and returned to the NDA fold.
Kumar, who had joined hands with the RJD in 2022, ended the alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. “Beech mein do baar idhar udhar zaroor ho gaye the. Lekin ab kabhi nahi. Phir wahin rahenge, ab idhar udhar nahi honge (Twice I moved out, but now I am here forever. I will not go anywhere)," he had recently said.
The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ is helmed by the Congress-RJD combine, which formed an alliance with the CPI(ML) Liberation ahead of assembly polls two-and-half years ago.