Voting begins on 102 seats in first of 7-phase polls

New Delhi: Voting has commenced for 102 Lok Sabha seats, constituting nearly a fifth of the total 543 seats, across 18 states and three Union Territories including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, 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. The phase one of the Lok Sabha polls is the largest of its seven phases with voting also to be held for 82 assembly seats.

The Election Commission on Thursday said it has deployed over 1.8 million polling personnel across 187,000 polling stations where over 166.3 million (16.63 crore) voters will exercise their franchise, including 84 million men, 82.3 million women and 11,371 third gender. There are as many as 3.56 million first time voters, besides 35.1 million voters in the 20-29 year age cohort.The EC has also put into service 41 helicopters, 84 special trains and nearly 100,000 vehicles to ferry polling and security personnel.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers as the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls started with polling being held in 102 constituencies. He especially called upon the young and first-time voters to vote in large numbers.

“The 2024 Lok Sabha elections commence today! As 102 seats across 21 States and UTs go to the polls, I urge all those voting in these seats to exercise their franchise in record numbers,” he said in a post on X
In the elections held five years ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious on 40 seats, with an additional eight seats secured by its former allies.