Elections to the new Lok Sabha would be held in four phases between April 20 and May 10.

On April 20 (Tuesday), the polls would involved 16 states/Union Territories and 141 constituencies.
On April 26 (Monday), 11 states/UT and 137 constituencies.
May 5 (Wednesday), 7 states/UT, 83 constituencies.
May 10 (Monday), 16 states/UT, 182 constituencies.

Counting of votes would be held on May 13 except in the case of Andhra Pradesh where it would be taken up a day earlier.

Simultaneously, assembly elections would be held in four states - Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka and Sikkim.

About 67.5crore voters would be involved in the Lok Sabha polls and approximately 14crore in the assembly polls.

Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishna Murthy announced the poll schedule, after a full meeting of the commission on Sunday morning, at a press conference in the presence of the other commissioners B B Tandon and N Gopalaswamy.

"Notification for the polling would be made March 24 for the first phase of polling, March 31 for the second phase, April 8 for the third and April 16 for the fourth and final phase. Last date of filing of nominations for the four phases would be March 31, April 7, April 15 and April 23, respectively.

"Scrutiny would be on April 1, April 8, April 16 and April 24. Last date of withdrawal of nominations phases have been fixed as April 3, April 10, April 19 and April 26," he said.

In the first phase, polling would be held in Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

In the second phase: parts of Assam, Manipur, Jharkhand, UP, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka.

In the third phase: Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, MP, UP, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan.

Rest would be covered in the fourth and final phase.

Murthy did not reveal the total number of security forces to be deployed for smooth conduct of the elections.