LS polls: EC to meet recognised political parties on Feb 4

In the run up to Lok Sabha polls, the Election Commission has convened a meeting of all recognised political parties on February 4 for the conduct of free and fair elections.
The all-party meeting, which is part of EC's poll preparations, comes a day ahead of the Parliament Session.
There are a total of six recognised national parties and 47 state parties.
During the meeting, top EC officials will hold discussions and consultations with all recognised national and state political parties and the Commission will list its "Do's and Don'ts" to them. The EC will also seek suggestions and cooperation from them for the smooth conduct of polls.

The Lok Sabha polls will be held between mid-April and early May in five or six phases and will involve about 800 million voters, top EC sources said.
Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will also have assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha elections.

"The announcement of the poll schedule would be made in the last days of February or at best the first two-three days of March," a source told PTI.
During the 2009 polls, there were 714 million voters against 671 million voters in 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
Ahead of the poll announcement, the Lok Sabha will meet from February 5 to 21 to pass the vote-on-account.

The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on June 1 and the new House has to be constituted by May 31.