The first phase of voting for the 18th Lok Sabha elections in 21 states and Union territories today witnessed over 24.5% voter turnout by 11:00 a.m.
Seats in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry go to polls today.
More than 16.63 crore voters, which include over 8 crore men and women each, will cast their vote at nearly 2 lakh polling stations today. here's a state-wise voter turnout so far:
Nagaland:
Around 28.37 per cent of voters cast their votes till 11 a.m. in the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland amidst a tight security cover, officials said.
Election officials said that so far no voter cast their votes in six Eastern Nagaland districts in view of various Naga groups' call to the people to "abstain" from Friday's voting in support of their statehood demand.
There are around four lakh eligible voters in the six Eastern Nagaland districts.
Rajasthan:
A total of 22.51 per cent voter turnout was recorded in Rajasthan's 12 Lok Sabha seats till 11 a.m. on Friday.
The highest voting was registered in Sriganganagar with 27.70 per cent followed by Jaipur Parliamentary Constituency with 26.48 per cent, Alwar with 24.58 per cent, and Churu with 24.56 per cent.
Jaipur Rural registered a 22.02 per cent voter turnout, Bharatpur had 20.93 per cent voter turnout, Nagaur 22.13 per cent and Dausa had 20.88 per cent voting.
Maharashtra:
Voting in five Vidarbha constituencies in Maharashtra in the first phase was recorded at 19.17 in the first three hours.
The five 5 Lok Sabha constituency-wise percentages in the first phase are as follows:
Ramtek 16.14 per cent; Nagpur 17.53 per cent; Bhandara-Gondia 19.72 per cent; Gadchiroli- Chimur 24.88 per cent; and Chandrapur is 18. 94 per cent.
Tamil Nadu:
At least 12.5 per cent of votes have been polled in Tamil Nadu in the first two hours for 39 Lok Sabha seats, election officials said.
The Kallakurichi Lok Sabha seat recorded the highest voting percentage at 15.1 per cent, while Chennai Central recorded the lowest at 8.59 per cent.
The election was also delayed in some of the constituencies following technical glitches in Electronic Voting Machines.
There are 6.23 crore voters in Tamil Nadu of which 3.17 crore are women and 3.06 crore voters are men. There are also 8467 transgender voters in the state.
West Bengal:
A very high voter turnout of 33.56 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of polling till 11 a.m. in the three Lok Sabha constituencies of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar in the first phase of polls on Friday.
Till 11 a.m., the maximum polling has been recorded from Alipurduar at 34.2 per cent, followed by Cooch Behar at 33.63 per cent and Jalpaiguri at 31.94 per cent, as per the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal.
During the same period, a total of 151 complaints have been registered with the office of CEO Ariz Aftab. The majority of the complaints have been reported from Cooch Behar, which has witnessed clashes between the Trinamool Congress and BJP supporters.
Tripura:
The polling percentage in Tripura till 11 a.m. was 34.6 per cent for Tripura West Lok Sabha seat and Ramnagar Assembly seat. Around 16 per cent voter turnout was registered till 9 a.m. in the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat amid tight security, election officials said on Friday.
Election officials added that over 12.28 per cent voters cast their votes in the byelections to the Ramnagar Assembly seat.
Though there is no untoward incident reported from anywhere in the parliamentary constituency, state Congress President Asish Kumar Saha alleged that party agents were not allowed to enter several polling stations.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, after casting his vote at a school here, expressed his confidence that BJP would win in Tripura's two Lok Sabha seats and Ramnagar Assembly seat.
Uttar Pradesh:
An average of 25.2 per cent votes were cast in eight Lok Sabha seats till 11 am in Uttar Pradesh according to a release issued by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) here.
The highest percentage of votes -- 29. 84 per cent -- were cast in Saharanpur while the lowest percentage of 20. 71 was reported from Rampur.
Polling has been going on peacefully, according to the CEO.
He said that malfunctioning in EVMs has also been reported in some places but the same was immediately rectified and polling was not disrupted.
Jammu & Kashmir:
Voters' faith in democracy and their will to exercise franchise was witnessed on Friday during the poll process in Kathua where a couple cast their vote on the day of their marriage.
Voters lined up at the polling station in a queue in ward-9 of Kathua town were pleasantly surprised when they saw Aseem Mangotra and wife Vaishali in wedding dress turn up at the polling station.
Lined-up voters made way for the couple to enter the polling station first realising the trust and faith the couple was showing in the country's democracy.
Assam:
Union Minister and BJP candidate in Assam's Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat, Sarbananda Sonowal cast his vote on Friday at the Sahitya Sabha Polling Booth.
Sarbananda Sonowal is locked in a contest with former AASU leader and United Opposition Forum candidate Lurinjyoti Gogoi.
The BJP leader said, "Democracy will be made stronger by the people's participation. I have seen voters coming out in huge numbers, which is a good sign for democracy and it also showed that people are happy with our work."
Manipur:
Around 13.22 per cent of voters cast their votes till 9 a.m. in two Lok Sabha seats in violence-hit Manipur, officials said.
Unprecedented security arrangements have been made in the state to foil any incidents of violence.
Police in Imphal said that some untoward incidents were reported from hill districts, but details are awaited.
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh accompanied by his wife cast his vote at Srivan Higher Secondary School Polling Station while other leaders cast their votes in other polling stations early in the morning.
Polling started at 7 a.m. in the entire Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat and 15 of the 28 Assembly segments of the Outer Manipur (ST) parliamentary constituency.
Voting will be held in the remaining 13 Assembly segments of Outer Manipur (ST) seat in the second phase on April 26.
(With inputs from IANS)
