Unknown Key Facts About 2014 Indian Loksabha Elections

India will elect a new Lok Sabha over a nine-day period from April 7 to May 12, and the results will be announced May 16. Following the elections, the 16th Lok Sabha will be constituted. For the first time in any parliamentary election, voters will have the provision to go for 'None of the Above' option among the candidates. Here are ten salient things about the upcoming general elections.

The general elections would be spread over nine phases, the longest ever in India's history.

For the first time, voters will be free to go for 'None of the Above' option among the candidates - a provision made available in the November-December assembly polls in five states.

This time, about 814 million people will be eligible to vote, a number larger than the population of Europe, making this the biggest election the world has ever seen.

According to the Election Commission, there has been a remarkable increase in the enrollment of electors in the age group of 18 to 19 years. Over 23 million electors are in this age group, which now constitutes 2.88% of total electors, against 0.75% in 2009.

This year's election will see an increase of 100 million from five years ago, according to the Election Commission.

Commission allowed enrollment of transgender persons with gender written as 'Others' in the electoral rolls since 2012. The number of electors enrolled as 'Others' gender for the upcoming elections is 28,314.

There will be about 930,000 polling stations across the country - a 12 percent rise from the 2009 election.

Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, 11,844 overseas electors have been enrolled in the current electoral rolls.

The Commission has decided to use Electronic Voting Machines in all the polling stations of the country. As many as 17, 20,080 Control Units and 18, 78,306 Ballot Units are expected to be used in the elections.

Polling will take place for 543 of the 545 Lok Sabha seats -- two members are nominated by the president -- on April 7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24 and 30 and May 7 and 12.

For the first time in the general elections, the Election Commission will introduce photo voters' slip to ensure only genuine voters get to exercise their franchise on the polling day.

Following the announcement of the schedule for the elections, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the guidance of political parties and candidates came into operation with immediate effect in the entire country.

All critical events will be video-graphed. District Election Officers will arrange sufficient number of video and digital cameras and camera teams for the purpose. The events for videography will include filing of nominations, scrutiny thereof and allotment of symbols, First Level Checking, preparation and storage of EVMs, important public meetings, processions etc. during campaign, process of dispatching Postal Ballot papers, polling process in identified vulnerable polling stations, storage of polled EVMs, counting of votes etc.

All the candidates will be required to file an affidavit along with their nomination papers. The filing of the affidavit is mandatory and its non-filing will result in rejection of the nomination paper by the Returning Officer.