"World's Largest Democratic Festival": S Jaishankar As Poll Dates Notified

After the announcement of the dates for the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said it has set the ball rolling on the “largest and grandest democratic festival of the world”. Earlier, on Saturday, the Election Commission (EC) announced that the general elections would be held across seven phases, with the first on April 19. The counting of votes has been scheduled for June 4, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar informed.