Lok Sabha elections 2024: Stage set for first phase of polls in 102 seats

The 2024 Lok Sabha polls will kick off today with polling for the first phase scheduled in 102 seats spread across 21 states and Union territories and among those in the fray are Union ministers Nitin Gadkari Sarbanada Sonowal and Bhupendra Yadav Gaurav Gogoi of Congress DMKrsquos Kanimozhi and K Annamalai of BJPSimultaneously assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh 60 seats and Sikkim 32 seats will also be held Voting will begin at 7 am and end at 6 pm The Election Commission has deployed over 18 lakh polling personnel across 187 lakh polling stations where over 1663 crore voters will exercise their franchise Voters include 84 crore men 823 crore women and 11371 from third gender There are as many as 3567 lakh first time voters besides 351 crore young voters in the age group of 2029 yearsAn election official during the distribution of EVM and other polling material on the eve of the first phase of Lok Sabha elections PicPTIWhile the BJPled NDA under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a stronger majority the constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc are hoping for a rebound after facing reverses in the 2014 and 2019 elections Polling will be held in all seats of Tamil Nadu 39 Uttarakhand 5 Arunachal Pradesh 2 Meghalaya 2 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1 Mizoram 1 Nagaland 1 Puducherry 1 Sikkim 1 and Lakshadweep 1Besides there will be voting in 12 seats in Rajasthan 8 in Uttar Pradesh 6 in Madhya Pradesh 5 seats each in Assam and Maharashtra 4 in Bihar 3 in West Bengal 2 seats in Manipur and one seat each in Tripura Jammu and Kashmir and ChhattisgarhUttarakhand BJP seeks hattrickDehradun Polling for the five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand will be held on Friday with the BJP aiming to retain the seats for a third time and the Congress looking to regain lost ground in the state Voting will begin at 7 am across 11729 polling stations and continue until 5 pm Additional Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Kumar Jogdande said The BJP won all the five seats in Uttarakhand in 2014 and 2019 general elections The five seats going to polls on Friday are Haridwar Pauri Garhwal Tehri Garhwal NainitalUdham Singh Nagar and the lone reserved seat of Almora More than 83 lakh voters will decide the fate of 55 candidates in the fray Sitting BJP MPs Ajay Bhatt Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah and Ajay Tamta have been fielded by the party from NainitalUdham Singh Nagar Tehri Garhwal and Almora respectivelyHigh stakes in CoochbeharKolkata All eyes will be on Coochbehar constituency which goes to polls along with two other seats in north Bengal in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal WB Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik is taking on TMCrsquos Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia in Coochbehar SC which saw the death of four people in firing allegedly by central forces in Sitalkuchi during the 2021 assembly elections that has been made an issue by the TMC in the current poll campaign also Jalpaiguri SC and Alipurduars ST are the other two constituencies which will go to polls in the first of the sevenphases in WB which has 42 Lok Sabha seatsJK Amid ceasefire peaceful voting expected in UdhampurSecurity personnel and polling officials transport EVMs at Dusra Village in Doda PicPTIJammu In view of the ongoing ceasefire between India and Pakistan and the heavy deployment of paramilitary forces the voting process is expected to be peaceful in 2637 polling stations in the Udhampur an official said The seat in Jammu and Kashmir will go to polls on Friday ldquoOut of the 2637 polling stations in Udhampur 31 are located along the International Border in Kathua district Necessary arrangements have been made to ensure peaceful pollingrdquo Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer Pandurang K Pole said ldquoBecause a ceasefire is holding between India and Pakistan since February 2021 without any major ceasefire violations the polling is expected to be peacefulrdquo Pole said ldquoAll arrangements are in place for free fair and peaceful voting tomorrow Friday The security measures are foolproof with adequate deployment of police and CAPF personnelrdquo Returning officer for Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency Rakesh Minhas told PTISikkim Assembly polls showdownGangtok Sikkim CM and SKM supremo Prem Singh Tamang former CM and SDF chief Pawan Kumar Chamling are among the 146 candidates in fray for 32 assembly seats which will go to the polls amid elaborate security arrangements in the Himalayan state Tamang who is spearheading the ruling SKMrsquos bid to retain power is contesting from two assembly seats Rhenock and SorengChakung The SKM chief who is seeking a seventh consecutive term as MLA is locked in a multicornered contest in both assembly constituencies with former minister and SDF nominee Som Nath Poudyal being his main challenger in Rhenock assembly constituency while SDF candidate AD Subba is his main opponent in SorengChakung assembly constituency The SKM supremorsquos wife Krishna Kumari is contesting from NamchiSinghithang assembly constituency where she is locked in a quadrangular contest in which the SDF has put up Bimal RaiNagalandThree candidates vie for lone seatKohima All arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of elections to the lone Lok Sabha in Nagaland where over 1325 lakh voters on Friday will decide the fate of three candidates in the fray Congress nominee S Supongmeren Jamir Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party NDPP and Peoplersquos Democratic Alliance PDA candidate Chumben Murry and Independent Hayithung Tungoe Lotha are contesting the elections BJP President J P Nadda Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio Deputy Chief Ministers T R Zeliang and Y Patton addressed several rallies in support of their candidateAndaman and Nicobar Islands ready for unique poll challengePort Blair Arrangements have been made for conducting polls for the lone seat in Andaman and Nicobar Islands with polling personnel traversing deep jungles and crocodileinfested mangrove swamps to set up booths in remote areas to ensure all the 315 lakh voters get an opportunity to vote Of the 315 lakh voters 164 lakh are men and 151 lakh are women while there are four thirdgender voters The electorate also includes 39 voters of the Great Nicobarese tribe of Strait Islands 68 members of the Onge tribe at Hut Bay and 98 members of the Shompen tribe of Great Nicobar IslandTight security as Manipur gears upImphal Tight security arrangements have been put in place for the first of the twophased Lok Sabha elections in Manipur which had been rocked by ethnic violence over the last one year officials said on Thursday The Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat which comprises 32 of the 60 assembly segments in the state and 15 assembly segments of the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat will go to polls in the first phase on Friday Voting will be held in the remaining 13 segments of Outer Manipur in the second phase on April 26 A total of six candidates including Education Minister Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh of BJP and Angomcha Bimol Akoijam of Congress are contesting Inner Manipur seatMadhya Pradesh All six constituencies ready for first phaseBhopal All preparations have been made across the six constituencies in Madhya Pradesh where polling will be held on Friday in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections an official said Of the 29 parliamentary constituencies in the BJPruled state Shahdol Mandla both reserved for Scheduled Tribes Jabalpur Balaghat Chhindwara and Sidhi will go to polls in the first phase Altogether these constituencies cover 13 districts and 27 assembly segments Voting will start at 7 am and end at 6 pm in most places the statersquos chief electoral officer Anupam Rajan told reporters here on Thursday Due to security reasons polling will be held from 7 am to 4 pm in Baihar Lanji and Paraswada assembly segments of the Naxalaffected Balaghat constituency he added As many as 88 candidates 81 men and seven women are in the fray across the six constituencies Jabalpur has the highest 19 candidates while Shadold has the lowest ten candidates in the fray Polling teams have already started arriving at 13588 booths Women officials will be in charge of 1118 polling booths Rajan informedBiharrsquos poll drama Tight security as 38 candidates vie for votesPatna The stage is set for the first phase in Bihar where more than 75 lakh voters will decide the fate of 38 candidates standing in four constituencies Tight security arrangements are in place at Nawada and Aurangabad besides reserved seats of Gaya and Jamui where a majority of nearly 5000 polling booths have been marked as sensitive given these districtsrsquo long history of naxal violence Of the four seats Nawada has the highest number of 2006 lakh voters where altogether eight candidates are in the frayBastar braces High security amid Maoist threatRaipur Amid heightened security measures the Naxalaffected Bastar Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh will go to polls in the first phase of general elections on Friday where 11 candidates are in fray Maoistsrsquo call to boycott elections poses a challenge to security forces but their morale seems to be high following a major counterinsurgency operation in Kanker district on April 16 in which 29 Naxals were gunned down by themRajasthan 12 seats up for grabs as Union minister among contestantsJaipur Twelve of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan will go to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday A Union minister is among the 114 candidates in the fray Polling will be held in twelve out of 25 Lok Sabha seats Churu Nagaurm Ganganagar Jhunjhunu Bikaner Sikar Jaipur Rural Jaipur Alwar Bharatpur KarauliDholpur and Dausa from 7 am to 6 pm According to chief electoral officer Praveen Gupta a total of 254 crore voters are set to vote in the first phase The BJP won all 25 seats in Rajasthan in 2014 and in 2019 NDA won 25 seatsMizoram gears up with six aspirants in frayAizawl All arrangements have been made for Fridayrsquos polling for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram in which six candidates are in the fray a senior election official said Over 656 lakh electorates including 44 lakh female voters are eligible to cast their votes he said Mizoram additional chief electoral officer H Lianzela told PTI that voting will begin in all 1276 polling stations across the state at 7 am The official said that the international border with Myanmar and with Bangladesh has been sealed Besides movement of traffic in the state boundaries with Assam Manipur and Tripura has been restrictedTripura BJPrsquos Biplab faces off against Cong in highstakes contestAgartala All arrangements for conducting elections in Tripura West Parliamentary constituency and bypoll to Ramnagar Assembly seat to be held on Friday have been completed an official said Although nine candidates are in the fray in Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency the battle will be mainly between BJP candidate Biplab Kumar Deb and state Congress president Asish Kumar Saha A total of 1461 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise Of them 733 lakh are male while the number of female voters is 728 lakhAssam gears up for triangular contestsVehicles requisitioned for first phase parked in Tinsukia Assam PicPTIGuwahati Assam is all set to witness direct and triangular contests for the first of the threephased Lok Sabha polls in five constituencies to decide the fate of 35 candidates including that of Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal A total electorate of 8647869 comprising 4364859 women who outnumber the 4282887 male voters and 123 third genders are eligible to exercise their franchise in 10001 polling boothsWest UP Stage set for threecornered battleLucknow The voters of eight Lok Sabha constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh falling in the Jat and sugarcane belt are set to exercise their constitutional right as polling for the first phase of the sevenphase parliamentary election begins on Friday The seats going to polls on Friday are Saharanpur Bijnor Kairana Muzaffarnagar Nagina reserved for Scheduled Castes Moradabad Rampur and Pilibhit The poll campaign for the first phase ended on Wednesday evening Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said no campaignrelated activity by candidates is allowed in these eight constituencies now and the final preparations for polling are on The stage is set for a threecornered poll contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Partyled NDA Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party BSP Employment education and development are among the leading issues for the voters in these constituenciesTamil Nadu Modirsquos hostile push Dravidian giantsrsquo standoffChennai Tamil Nadu is all set to vote on April 19 for the Lok Sabha polls that was marked by fierce campaigns and acrimonious debates and a never seen before kind of spirited fight put up by the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to gain a foothold in the Dravidian land in 2024 was a striking feature Elections to 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state will be held on Friday and the fate of 950 candidates will be decided by about 623 crore voters who are set to exercise their franchise in nearly 68000 polling stationsPuducherry BJP vs Cong battle for lone seatPuducherry The fate of 26 candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha polls will be sealed when voters spread across four regions will pick the lone MP from this union territory where the fight is largely confined between the ruling BJP and Congress BJP leader and Home Minister A Namassivayam fielded on behalf of the AINRCBJP combine will faceoff Congress MP and PCC president V Vaithilingam while AIADMKrsquos G Tamizhvendhan is also testing his luck as a debutant The UT has a total of 1023699 voters spread over Puducherry Karaikal Mahe and Yanam regions Polling will be held between 7 am and 6 pm Friday