April 19 marks the beginning of the 7-phase Elections. At sharp 7 am, voters lined up outside polling booths began casting their votes. The phase 1 voting is for 102 seats from 102 constituencies across the country.
In the first phase, the largest number of seats is from Tamil Nadu (39 seats) which is under a strong influence of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazgham (AIADMK). The remaining states are Rajasthan (25 seats), Uttar Pradesh (8 seats), MP (6 seats), Maharashtra, Uttrakhand and Assam(5 seats), Bihar (4 seats), West Bengal (3 seats), Arunanchal Pradesh(2 seats) and a single seat in Nagaland, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, Chattisgarh and Puducherry.
State Legislative Assembly Elections in Arunanchal Pradesh(60 seats) and Sikkim(32 seats) are also being conducted at the same time.
Among the list of early voters, some prominent political faces have emerged. From Nitin Gadkari, Kiren Rijiju, Sarbananda Sonowal to Bhupendra Yadava are a few Union Ministers. From Congress, Gaurav Gogoi (add X link)was seen at a booth. K Annamalai, Tamil Nadu BJP chief was also present.
In a tweet by Mallickarjun Kharge, he urged the citizens to vote and requested “to carefully cast your votes.” And emphasized on “NYAY”.
The fight to protect our Constitution and Democracy begins today.
My dear citizens, from 21 States and UTs who are voting in the First Phase of the Lok Sabha elections, I request you to carefully cast your vote.
A future where NYAY (JUSTICE) awaits you. A new era of Economic…
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) April 19, 2024
Elections updates from the polling states
Violence has erupted in Manipur, EVMs destroyed, disrupting polls and terrifying the voters. A social media video has captured firing at a Manipur polling booth (link video). Nagaland polling began, despite shutdowns in 6 districts, namely Mon, Tuensang, Longleng, Kiphire, Noklak and Shamator, by the eastern Nagaland people’s organization ENPO.
Tripura recorded the highest voter (53.04%) turnout till 1 pm. Meanwhile, Maharashtra recorded 30.6%, Tamil Nadu (24.37%), Meghalaya (48.91), Manipur (46.92). EC registered more than 100 complaints in West Bengal during pollings. Despite this the voter turnout was recorded at 50.69% in Cooch Behar, 50.65% at Jalpaiguri and 51.58% at Alipurduars. Lakshadweep recorded lowest voter turnout at 29.91%.
Amidst ongoing elections, the BJP has aimed for a higher seat count of 370, compared to 2019 General Elections when it won 353 seats. Prime Minister Modi is even further optimistic about the results and has set a target of 400 seats for NDA.
For the Oppositions, the INDIA bloc, the optimism might not be the same. Given the disrupted state of the bloc due to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s defection and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal stuck in liquor policy case. However, the little victories at the assembly polls in Telangana and Karnataka by Congress and DMK alliance boosts confidence in the Opposition. Sachin Pilot in a statement said, “INDIA bloc will win over 272 seats. There is an atmosphere of change in the entire country and state and based on what I am seeing, I think that the performance of Congress will be much better than before and INDIA alliance will get a majority on June 4.”
