1ST PHASE OF GENERAL ELECTIONS|Voters turn up in large numbers to elect 91 MPs

The world’s largest electoral exercise began Thursday with an estimated nine crore Indians coming out to vote for electing 91 parliamentarians in the first phase of over-a-month-long LokSabha elections for which the NarendraModi government has made nationalism its core pitch against a fragmented opposition, even as poll-related violence saw at least two deaths.

Complaints poured in about missing voter names and glitchesin electronic voting machines in some areas, while Naxal-affected regions ofMaharashtra and Chhattisgarh saw IED blasts and clashes with security forces,though officials maintained the polling was largely peaceful withmoderate-to-large voter turnout.

   

West Bengal, where voting took place for two LokSabha seats,saw the maximum 81 per cent voting, while state election officers put thevoting percentage at 73 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, where violent clashes leftat least two persons dead. Some reports put the number of deaths inpoll-related clashes at three.

The 91 LokSabha constituencies, spread across 18 states andtwo union territories, have more than 14 crore voters — about one-sixth ofnearly 90 crore total electorate in India. A total of 1,279 candidates are inthe fray for these seats.

Votes for all 543 seats would be counted on May 23 after endof the seven-phase polling on May 19. An estimated 1.5 crore young voters inthe age group of 18-19 years would vote for the first time across the sevenphases.

In the last general elections in 2014, more than 55 croreIndians had voted (66.3 per cent) with the BJP emerging victorious with littleover 30 per cent votes, giving a five-year mandate to a government led by PrimeMinister NarendraModi.

In the first phase, the BJP has sought to defend 32 seats,including those being fought by senior party leader NitinGadkari and five otherunion ministers, and also expand its tally in states dominated by regionalplayers last time.

The main opposition party Congress is hoping to defend sevenseats it won in 2014, besides eyeing gains in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra,Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

Voting also took place in 175 assembly seats in AndhraPradesh, 32 in Sikkim, 57 in Arunachal Pradesh and 28 seats in Odisha.

The first-phase LokSabha constituencies included all 25seats in Andhra Pradesh, 17 in Telangana, five in Uttarakhand, two inMeghalaya, two in Arunachal Pradesh and lone seats in Mizoram, Tripura,Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep.

Besides, eight seats in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Maharashtra,five in Assam, four each in Bihar and Odisha, two each in Jammu and Kashmir andWest Bengal and one seat in Chhattisgarh are also part of the first-phase.These states are having multi-phase voting. The poll panel did not share theoverall polling percentage at its briefing, saying the data was still beingcollated. However, the estimates pegged the total voter turnout in the firstphase at around 9 crore.

The Election Commission said Bihar saw 50 per cent turnout,the lowest for the first phase. The two seats in J&K — Jammu and Baramulla— recorded 54.49 per cent vote, down from 57.19 per cent in 2014. The statealso saw protests over defective EVMs in some areas and at least one incidentof firing.

Seeking another term in power, Prime Minister NarendraModihas focussed his election campaign on national security and flagship schemes ofhis government.

The main opposition Congress has promised to roll out aminimum income scheme for the poor and its chief Rahul Gandhi has beenrelentlessly targeting the Modi government over issues of corruption.

After his mother Sonia Gandhi filed nomination papers,Gandhi said in Rae Bareli that the election results would prove that Modi is”not invincible”.

The prime minister, whose party has been attackingopposition leaders with ‘anti-national’ barbs, said at an election rally inBihar that opposition parties were scared their “shops” of corruptionand dynasty politics will shut down if he comes back to power. In AndhraPradesh, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu is seeking to retain power, but isfacing a stiff challenge from YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

In Telangana, the ruling TRS is hoping for an encore inLokSabha polls after sweeping the December assembly elections, while bothCongress and BJP are looking to increase their respective tallies. In UttarPradesh, BJP is facing the newly-formed SP-BSP-RLD alliance. In Muzaffarnagar,RLD chiefAjit Singh took on BJP’s SanjeevBalyan, while his son Jayant Chaudharywas pitted against Union minister Satyapal Singh in Baghpat.

In Maharashtra’s Nagpur, Union Minister Gadkari facedCongress candidate and former BJP MP Nana Patole, while his party colleagueHansarajAhir is seeking a fourth term from Chandrapur.

In Bihar, LJP leader ChiragPaswan was in the fray from Jamuiagainst Bhudeo Chaudhary of RLSP.

In the North East, Union Minister Rijiju is seekingre-election from Arunachal West. In Assam, former CM TarunGogoi’s son Gauravwas in the fray in Kaliabor.

In Chhattisgarh’s Bastar, security was tightened with deployment of 80,000 state and paramilitary personnel following a naxal attack in Dantewada area on Tuesday, in which one BJP leader and four security personnel were killed. It recorded 57 per cent voting, as per provisional figures.

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