- Saturday, May 18, 2024
The chief electoral officer of Delhi later said the date was “tentative”.
By: Shubham Ghosh
WILL India go to national elections on April 16?
A circular that emerged from the office of the chief electoral officer in Delhi on January 19 cited April 16 as a “poll date” as part of the Election Planner issued by the Indian poll commission, “in which various activities in the build up to the election have been given”, elicited reactions from various circles.
The circular was issued to all 11 district election officers of Delhi. It is titled “Compliance/adhering to the timelines given in the Election Planner of Election Commission of India -regarding”.
It said “for the ensuing General Election to the Lok Sabha 2024, the Commission has tentatively given the Poll Day as 16.04.2024 for the purpose of reference and to calculate Start and End dates in the Election Planner.”
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It said the document is “to inform you that on every Start and End Date of the each activity, a notification is sent from the Election Planner Portal to CEO Delhi through SMS & email. The status of each activity is required to be updated/ marked as Pending/ In Progress/ Scheduled/ Completed depending on the reports received from the DEOs/ROs and concerned Branches at CEO (HQ).”
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Some media queries are coming referring to a circular by @CeodelhiOffice to clarify whether 16.04.2024 is tentative poll day for #LSElections2024
It is clarified that this date was mentioned only for ‘reference’for officials to plan activities as per Election Planner of ECI.— CEO, Delhi Office (@CeodelhiOffice) January 23, 2024
The assistant chief electoral officer of Delhi, T Misao, who signed the circular, said he is directed to request the district election officers “to kindly adhere to the given timelines for initiating and completing each election activity mentioned in the Election Planner and send a report to COE Branch, office of CEO, Delhi…at least one day prior to the Start and End dates of the activity(s).”
The chief electoral officer of Delhi later clarified saying it was just for enabling officials to “plan activities” and that the date was “tentative”.
In a post on X made on Tuesday (23), it said, “Some media queries are coming referring to a circular by @CeodelhiOffice
to clarify whether 16.04.2024 is tentative poll day for #LSElections2024 It is clarified that this date was mentioned only for ‘reference’for officials to plan activities as per Election Planner of ECI.”
When India’s The Wire contacted the Election Commission of India, a senior official said that the general elections have to be completed before June and that the time between mid-April and May end are the “normal/essential dates in any case”.
The tenure of the current Lok Sabha (17th), which is elected in 2019, will conclude on June 16. Elections for the formation of the 18th Lok Sabha will be held before that. Seven phases of polling took place in the 2019 election, between April 11 and May 19 and the results were announced on May 23.
Prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Democratic Alliance led by it are eyeing its third straight mandate this time after 2014 and 2019. It will be challenged by the opposition bloc Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA.
