Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday announced that voting will take place in the southern region in seven phases beginning from April 19. The results will be announced on June 4 — ahead of the June 16 deadline for forming a new government.
Voting will be held across India on 19 April (1st phase), 26 April (2nd phase), 7 May (3rd phase), 13 May (4th phase), 20 May (5th phase), 25 May (6th phase) and 1 June (7th phase) to elect 543 members for the Lower House.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, and Karnataka will cast their ballots in seven phases, starting from April 19 to June 1.
According to EC data, Karnataka will go to polls on April 26 and May 7, while people will vote in Tamil Nadu on April 19, Telangana on May 14, and Kerala on April 26.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: A look at South India’s political scenario
South belt seems to be important for the Bharatiya Janata Party and PM Narendra Modi Five years ago, the ruling party won all seats in Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, one in Madhya Pradesh, and two in Chhattisgarh. However, BJP needs to improve its performance in South, Maharashtra, Odisha, and West Bengal.
The Prime Minister intensified the Lok Sabha poll campaigns in its South outreach including Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu where the BJP is yet to influence people with its existence. PM Modi has spoken at a series of public meetings in the region while launching multiple development projects in the run-up to the election.
It is pertinent to note that the politics in South India is typically dominated by regional parties, not by the national parties including Congress, BJP, and CPI(M). However, these political parties have been successful in forging alliances with regional players.
In Tamil Nadu, BJP stitched an alliance with the Tamil Maanila Congress after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) snapped its ties with the saffron party. The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has sealed a seat-sharing deal with the Congress and filmmaker Kamal Haassan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam for Lok Sabha polls in the state.
In Telangana, the BRS and BSP announced a pre-poll alliance following talks between KCR and state BSP president R S Praveen Kumar. Kerala’s political scenario is dominated by the Left Democratic Front (LDF). The Congress-led United Democratic Fund (UDF) also unveiled its seat-sharing model.
Karnataka is one of the most politically volatile states in India. In 2019, the BJP defeated the ruling Congress-JDS alliance, however, the political scene changed in the 2023 assembly elections with the Congress scoring a thumping victory. In Andhra Pradesh, BJP, Jana Sena Party (JSP), and TDP have recently finalized a seat-sharing agreement.
A mega opinion poll, conducted by News18, anticipated that the NDA government will make significant gains in the southern states of India, including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala, in the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
The poll stated that the BJP can secure 8 out of 17 seats in Telangana, while the ruling Congress party is expected to win 6 seats. However, in Tamil Nadu, the DMK-Congress alliance is anticipated to secure victory in 30 out of the 39 seats in the southern state. In Karnataka, the NDA is poised to replicate its performance from 2019, securing victory in 25 out of the 28 seats, and the Congress is anticipated to secure only 3 seats.
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