New Delhi (AsiaNews ) - The general elections in
India will take place from 7 April to 12 May. With
814 million registered voters it will be the biggest vote that the world has
ever seen. The dates were
announced today by the National Electoral Commission. The
Indian people directly elect the new members of the Lok Sabha (House of the
People), the lower house of parliament.
The
elections will be divided into nine phases: April 7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24 and 30, May
7 and12. Some
states will vote on more than one day, depending on the number of divisions. The
counting of votes will take place on a single day - May 16 - and the new
parliament will be constituted by May 31. School
exams, seasonal weather conditions and harvest times were taken into account
while deciding the dates said VS Sampath , Chairman of the Electoral Commission.
These
elections are the most contested in recent years. On
the one hand there is the democratic and secular majority Congress party, in
federal government for 10 years. On
the other the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP ) , the Hindu ultranationalist party and
main opposition, and in particular its candidate for prime minister Narendra
Modi . The
latter was three times chief minister of Gujarat , and is considered a
charismatic but controversial figure, especially for his involvement in the
massacres of Gujarat in 2002.
Polls
give Modi the lead, but analysts said neither the BJP nor the Congress have a
chance of winning an absolute majority and forming a government alone. In
this context, regional parties will play a key role, with whom the eventual
winner will have to seek new alliances.
The
leaders of 11 smaller parties have formed a Third Front candidate against the
Congress and BJP. The
new anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party (common man'sparty ) - which won the
elections in Delhi - will participate in the election race .
The
Indian Constitution provides the Lok Sabha a maximum of 552 members , of which
530 represent the population of the States, 20 the population of the
Territories of the Union, 2 may be appointed by the President of the country on
behalf of the Anglo-Indian community . Each
elected member represents a single geographic constituency