Polling began on Thursday morning in 91 constituencies spread across 18 states and two Union territories in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Voting is also under way in all 175 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, all 32 seats in Sikkim, all 60 seats in Arunachal Pradesh and 28 of the 147 seats in Odisha.
Polling in all the Lok Sabha constituencies of Andhra Pradesh (25), Telangana (17), Uttarakhand (5), Meghalaya (2) and Arunachal Pradesh (2), besides lone seats in Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep, is being held.
An estimated 13.73 per cent voting was recorded in the first three hours of polling that began amid tight security in four Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in the first leg of the seven-phased election.
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Few incidents of EVM malfunctioning were reported in some booths under Nawada Lok Sabha constituency, and a cane bomb was found at a polling station in Gaya district before voting began at 7am.
Polling is underway in the four Lok Sabha seats of Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jamui. "Polling has, so far, been peaceful in the constituencies," said Joint Chief Electoral Officer Pravin Kumar Gupta.
Before the start of polling, one cane bomb was found at polling station number 9 at Anarban Sulaiya village under Dumariya assembly constituency of Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat. Voting is currently on at the polling station as the cane bomb has been defused by the bomb squad, Gaya City Superintendent of Police Sushil Kumar said.
Polling will end at 6 pm in most of the booths. In some "sensitive" booths, however, voting will end at 4pm. Uttarakhand, where five Lok Sabha seats are in fray in Thursday's phase, saw 13.34 per cent voter turnout till 9am, an official said.
The fate of 52 candidates will be decided by over 78 lakh voters of the state, where all the five seats—Tehri, Pauri, Haridwar, Almora and Nainital—are being held by the BJP. The saffron party is locked in straight contests with the Congress on all seats.
Eight seats in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Maharashtra, six in Bihar, five in Assam, four in Odisha, two each in Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal and one seat in Chhattisgarh are also going to polls.
Voting for the 543 Lok Sabha seats is be held in seven phases: April 11, April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19. Counting will be done on May 23.
