Polling in the first and largest phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 begins on Friday morning for 102 constituencies in 21 states/UTs, from Jammu and Kashmir to Andaman and Nicobar, Bihar to Lakshwadeep, and Maharashtra to Mizoram.
Polling to elect new Assemblies in Arunachal and Sikkim is being held simultaneously in the first phase. Over 16.63 crore voters are eligible to head to 1.87 lakh polling stations across the country from 7 a.m. to decide the fate of 1,625 candidates.
Tamil Nadu
Polling for 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu commenced on Friday morning. Former Telangana and Puducherry Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, senior DMK leader T.R. Baalu, DMK leader and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin's sister Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, state BJP president K. Annamalai are among the heavyweights whose fate will be decided by the voters today.
There are 6.23 crore eligible voters in the state. Of which, 3.17 crore are women, 3.06 crore are men. Of the 950 candidates in the fray from the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies, 874 are men and 76 are women.
Maharashtra
Voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in five constituencies of Maharashtra which include Nagpur, Ramtek, Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondiya, and Gadchiroli-Chimur. A total of 95,54,667 voters will exercise their voting rights across 10,652 polling stations in these five Lok Sabha constituencies in the Vidarbha region.
In Nagpur, BJP nominee and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is contesting against Congress nominee and MLA Vikas Thakre. Shiv Sena nominee Raju Parwe is pitted against Congress nominee Shyamkumar Barve in Ramtek.
In Bhandara-Gondiya, BJP's Sunil Mendhe faces a direct fight with Congress nominee Dr Prashant Padole. Gadchiroli-Chimur witnesses a direct contest between BJP's incumbent MP Ashok Nete and Congress candidate Namdev Kirsan. In Chandrapur Lok Sabha Constituency, BJP minister Sudhir Mungantiwar is fielded against Congress nominee and MLA Pratibha Dhanorkar.
Madhya Pradesh
Voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in six constituencies of Madhya Pradesh in Chhindwara, Jabalpur, Mandla, Sidhi, Shahdol and Balaghat.
A total of 1,13,09,636 voters in the six Lok Sabha constituencies will vote to elect new members. As many as 2,651 of the 13,588 polling booths have been tagged critical and most of them are in Balaghat and Mandla.
Rajasthan
Voting for the first phase of elections began in 12 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan. Voting is taking place in -- Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur.
In the first phase, two Union Ministers of BJP, Arjunram Meghwal from Bikaner and Bhupendra Yadav from Alwar, are contesting. Whereas in Churu, Rahul Kaswan, who rebelled against the BJP after being denied the ticket, is contesting on Congress ticket. In Nagaur, Congress is in alliance with RLP and has fielded Hanuman Beniwal while Jyoti Mirdha is contesting from BJP.
Over 2.53 crore voters will cast their votes on the seats in the first phase. While BJP is contesting on all 25 seats in Rajasthan, Congress is contesting 22 seats and has left three for alliance partners.
Uttar Pradesh
Polling for eight Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh began in the first phase in Saharanpur, Bijnor, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Nagina (reserved), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit, located in nine districts of western Uttar Pradesh.
In the first phase, 1.43 crore people are eligible to cast their votes. Of them, 76.23 lakh are men, 67.14 lakh women and 824 are transgender persons. A total of 80 candidates -- 73 men and 7 women -- are in the fray in the first phase.
Twelve candidates are in the fray from Moradabad, 14 from Kairana, 11 each from Muzaffarnagar and Bijnor, 10 each from Saharanpur and Pilibhit and six each from Nagina and Rampur. The BJP has joined hands with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the SP has allied with the Congress for the election, while the BSP has decided to go solo.
(With inputs from IANS)
