Nomination filing begins with Prez notification

The process for filing of nomination for the first phase of the five-phased Lok Sabha elections kick-started on Monday with the issuance of notification by the President Pratibha Patil.

Elections for the first phase will be held on April 16 covering 124 seats spread over 17 States and Union Territories. The polls for the other phases are to be held on April 23, 30 and May 07 and 13. The counting of votes will take place on May 16.

Filing nominations for the first phase will come to an end on March 30 and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is April 2.

Notifications for the State Assembly going for the elections on April 16 for 154 of the 294 seats in Andhra Pradesh and 70 of the 147 seats in Orissa were also issued by the respective Governors. Three states, including Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim are scheduled for assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha elections. Sikkim will go for poll on April 30.

Notifications for the second phase Lok Sabha polls for 141 seats would be issued on March 28, the third phase for 107 seats on Aril 02, the fourth phase for 85 seats on April 11, and the final and fifth phase for 86 seats notifications will be issued on April 17.

Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh are the two states which would go for polls in all the five phases followed by Bihar in four phases, and Maharashtra and West Bengal in three phases.

Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Orissa and Punjab will have two phased elections. The remaining 15 states and Union Territories will go through single-phase elections.

Over 714 million voters would be able to use their franchise rights to elect 543 members of the 15th Lok Sabha.

As compared to 2004 Lok Sabha polls, number of political parties has increased considerably. This time 1,027 political parties have been registered with the Election Commission of which maximum are unrecognised parties. As per the EC, unrecognised parties have increased to 980 this year as compared to 173 in 2004.

The number of state parties too has gone up from 36 in 2004 to 40 in 2009. While with the inclusion of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as the national party, the national parties have gone up to seven, including Congress, BJP, BSP, CPI, CPM, NCP and RJD.