Nominations for phase one start

NEW DELHI: The nominations for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections began on Monday, after the election commission issued a notification inviting nominations for t he f i rst phase of t he polls, thereby officially starting the process.

As many as 91 Lok Sabha constituencies in 20 states across the country are set to vote on April 11, according to an earlier announcement by the election commission.

The commission said nominations for the first phase could be done till March 25, and it would be scrutinised by March 26.

Thereafter, those whose names have been cleared, would get two more days to withdraw their nominations.

All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asadudddin Owaisi was one of the first leaders to file his nominations when he submitted his papers to the returning officer for Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency, which he has been holding since 2004.

All the constituencies in both the Telugu speaking states Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will go to polls on April 11 in the first phase.

The others states and union territories going to the polls in this round are: Arunachal Pradesh (2), Assam (5), Bihar (4), Chattishgarh (1), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Maharashtra (7), Manpur (1), Meghalaya (2), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Odisha (4), Sikkim (1), Tripura (1), Uttar Pradesh (8), Uttarakhand (5), West Bengal (2), Andaman and Nicobar (1) and Lakshadweep (1).

Simultaneously, notification would be issued for Aassembly e l e c t i o ns f o r f o ur s t a t e s - Andhara Pradesh (all 175 constituencies), Odisha (28 of total 147 constituencies), Sikkim (all 32 constiuencies) and Arunachal Pradesh (all 60 constituencies).

The counting of votes would be held on May 23, along with those of six other phases which are to be held on April 18 (97 Lok Sabha constituencies), April 23 (115), April 29 (71), May 6 (51), May 12 (59) and May 19 (59).