Election Updates In India

Upcoming State Elections - Tentative Dates

The election schedule and tenure of various state governments are detailed below. This list highlights the schedule of the upcoming elections in each state. At the national level, the next General Elections are to be held in the year 2024.

This is the election schedule for the upcoming years, followed by the 18th General Elections to be held in the year 2024. Besides the above schedule, elections are also to be held for the additional 5 union territories namely Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep.

Overview of the Electoral Process in India

As the largest democracy in the world, India has a well-defined electoral process to select the country’s leaders at each level - Panchayat level, district level, state level and the national Level. Elections in India are conducted at the conclusion of the previous term of the leaders elected by the eligible voters of the country.

Several elections are conducted periodically in the country in which eligible citizens cast their votes. In India, citizens aged over 18 years can take part in the electoral process. The prerequisite to be eligible to vote in any election is having a valid voter ID card as well as having one’s name included in the electoral roll.

The electoral rolls are maintained and updated by the Election Commission of India (ECI). An eligible voter can apply for a new voter ID card or any changes in his/her existing voter ID card by filling the requisite forms and submitting the same with the Local Electoral office. These forms are available online as well as at the local electoral office. Along with the application the person has to submit certain documents that will prove his/her identity, his/her age as well as address proof.

The ECI has now come out colour voter IDs that are a modified or a revised version of the original voter ID cards. Originally, the voter ID cards were black and white in colour and had details of the voter like name, address, date of birth, assembly constituency, black and white photograph with a hologram and were laminated. The refined version of the voter ID card is in the plastic form with a colour photograph of the voter and the basic details like name, address, date of birth and assembly constituency. The background of the voter ID is in the colour scheme of our tricolor flag.

The ECI has also started voter education initiatives for general voter awareness and to encourage voter registration as well as voter turnout. This initiative is known as SVEEP (Systematic Voter’s Education and Electoral Participation). This initiative was started in the year 2009 and has been constantly working towards achieving its objectives.

Apart from various such initiatives, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is responsible to plan out the schedule of the upcoming elections of the country. It also has to make sure that fraudulent candidates (candidates are not eligible to contest an election) cannot be part of the electoral process. The same applies for voters - the ECI is in charge of weeding out fraudulent voters as well. The Election Commission of India has to make sure that only the eligible voters participate in the process and that the entire elections are carried out with the best practices and utmost fairness.

FAQs – Election Updates in India