On March 16 the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced that Kerala will host the 18th Lok Sabha elections on April 26. This year the General Election is taking place in seven phases. Voting in Kerala will take place in the second phase of the polls along with other 13 States. The vote counting will take place on June 4. April 4 was the deadline for nominations, while April 8 was the deadline for nomination withdrawals.
Kerala will go on a single poll date on April 26 unlike States like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal which have multiple poll dates. Kerala holds 20 constituencies and is ranked 12th in terms of the number of constituencies it has. Out of 20 constituencies, two seats — Alathur and Mavelikara — are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.