India\\\'s Lok Sabha elections on April 7

India's Lok Sabha elections will begin on April 7. The Election Commission announced on Wednesday that votes to elect the 16th Lok Sabha will be spread over nine days from Apr 7 to May 12. Polls ovservers said the 16th Lok Sabha balloting will be the highest number of polling days so far involving an electorate of 81.4 crore. Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath announced at a press conference flanked by ECs H.S. Brahma and S.N.A. Zaidi that counting of votes in all the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies will be held on a single day on May 16. Assembly elections will also be held simultaneously in the states of Andhra Pradesh, including Telangana region, Odisha and Sikkim. Nation will go to polls on April 7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24, 30, May 7 and May 12, he added. The first polling day on April 7 will cover six Lok Sabha constituencies in two states, while the second on April 9 will cover seven constituencies in five states. 92 constituencies will go to polls in 14 states on the third day on April 10, while a small number of five constituencies in three states will be covered on the fourth day on April 12. The largest chunk of 122 Lok Sabha seats will go to polls in 13 states on April 17, the fifth day of poll, while the sixth day will witness polling in 117 seats in 12 states on April 24. The seventh day of polling on Apr 30 will choose representatives in 89 constituencies spread over nine states and the eighth day on May 7 will cover 64 seats in seven states. Polling will conclude on the ninth day on May 12 with elections in 41 constituencies in three states. Announcing the election schedule, Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath said, this should not be viewed as phases. "They are poll days," he said, according to a news agency.