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Live Updates: Election Commission to announce Lok Sabha poll schedule shortly

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission will announce general election to the Lok Sabha and few state assemblies at 5 pm today. Sources told TOI that unlike 2014 general election when polling was spread over 9 phases, there will be fewer phases this time.The schedule - which will cover polls to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh for sure, though there remains a question mark on simultaneous assembly poll in J&K — will be announced by chief election commissioner Sunil Arora and election commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra at a press conference in Vigyan Bhavan. Polling is expected to be held in April and May, with results likely to be declared in the third week of May.The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on June 3.The poll announcement will set in motion a highly-anticipated political contest which is shaping up to be a “Modi versus Rest” showdown. The recent Pulwama attack and IAF air strikes on a Jaish terror camp in Balakot, Pakistan, have added a new dimension to the polls as the military action is seen to boost the Modi government’s credentials, though the challenge for the BJP is to sustain the 'high' till polls, and factor in possible escalation in the meanwhile.The declaration of polls is expected to spur opposition to look up any possible alliances to take on Modi and BJP. The key alliances in UP and Karnataka are a major challenge for BJP as are strong regional leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik, K Chandrasekhar Rao, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav. A key determinant will also be ‘BJP versus Congress’ battles in major states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Congress has scored victories in some of these states recently and it remains to be seen if a national election fought on 'for-or-against Modi' lines will allow BJP to regain the advantage.There remains suspense on whether J&K assembly poll will be part of the General Election schedule. While state government wants the Lok Sabha and assembly poll decoupled in J&K, with the latter preferably timed sometime in October, there is also a view that assembly poll be held soon after Lok Sabha poll and before expiry of President’s rule in June. If the majority view of political parties in J&K is anything to go by, the assembly poll should be conducted without any delay, that is, along with Lok Sabha poll.As many as 89.88 crore electors, including 1.59 crore new voters aged 18-19 years, are registered to vote in 2019 general election, though this number is likely to go up since additions to the electoral rolls can be made till the last day of filing of nomination.In 2014 rolls published ahead of Lok Sabhapoll that year, there were a total of 81.45 crore voters enrolled at the time of announcement but the final figure, including service voters, stood higher at 83.4 crore.As per final electoral rolls with reference to January 1, 2019, the last parts of which were published on February 22, there are 89.71 crore voters across the country comprising 46.5 crore men, 43.2 crore women and 33,109 belonging to the ‘third gender’. In addition, nearly 16.62 lakh have enrolled as service voters.As per EC sources, there shall be a total of 10,35,932 polling stations spread over 4.36 lakh locations across the country for this general election.Read this report in Bengali