Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M K Stalin today expressed disapointment over the Election Commission's decision to conduct by-election in only 18 out of the 21 vacant constituencies in Tamil Nadu, along with the Lok Sabha elections. "There is some hidden agenda behind this. We want simultaneous by-election in all 21 constituencies," said Stalin, the Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly.
He said this after chairing a meeting of the party's district satraps, MLAs and MPs, in which DMK's strategies for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and by-elections were discussed in detail. The 2019 general election will be held in seven phases, the Election Commission said on Sunday. There will be single phase polling in Tamilnadu on April 18. At a press conference in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that around 900 million - or 90 crore - people have been registered as voters for the 2019 general election. These include 1.5 crore new voters in the age group of 18 to 19.
Tamil Nadu is all set to go to polls on April 18, 2019 for the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies across the state. Puducherry will also go to polls on the same day as Tamil Nadu. The Lok Sabha Elections will take place in a single phase in the state and the Union Territory. Political parties in the state are expected to file their nominations between March 19 and March 26. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 29. Results will be announced on May 23 with counting of ballots set to take place on a single day.
