NEW DELHI, 25 March 2004 — India’s electoral process got under way yesterday with the president issuing notification for the April 20 elections to 141 parliamentary seats spread over 15 States in the first phase of the five-phased exercise.
The first phase covers Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Chhattisgarh and a portion of Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam and Manipur.
State governors are expected to issue notifications today for the assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa.
Nearly 675 million voters are eligible to cast their votes in the elections. And for the first time, electronic voting machines are to be used across the country. The massive democratic exercise will be held in five phases on April 20, 22, 26, May 5 and 10.
Apart from a thousand general election observers who will monitor the polls across the country, the Election Commission
has for the first time decided to appoint special observers in certain states to ensure neutrality. Jammu and Kashmir is the only state where there will be a four-phased poll for six Lok Sabha seats.
The notification for the second phase of polling, will be issued on March 31 and nominations will close on April 7.
The third phase of polling to be held on April 22, will be exclusively for two Lok Sabha seats in the northeastern state of Tripura. The nominations for the fourth phase of polling will open on April 8 and the final phase on April 16.
Meanwhile, the BJP election committee yesterday decided to go it alone in Jharkhand after releasing a list of 36 candidates. So far, it has released a list of 324 candidates.
In another important development, Bollywood actor Dharmendra joined the BJP yesterday. According to reports, the actor is likely to contest from the Churu constituency in Rajasthan. Churu is in a predominantly Jat belt and if he contests, he’ll be taking on Congress leader Balram Jhakhar.
Dharmendra’s wife, actress Hema Malini, had earlier joined the ruling party.
Justifying the influx of Bollywood stars into the party, BJP President Venkaiah Naidu said it reflected a new thinking in the country. People who had kept themselves away from politics now wanted to contribute to the country’s progress under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s leadership, he added.
