Lok Sabha Elections 2024, phase 1 voting- 102 seats up for grabs across 21 states and union territories in the inaugural phase

Lok Sabha Elections 2024, phase 1 voting: Polling for the highly anticipated Lok Sabha elections 2024 commenced on Friday morning, marking the beginning of the world’s largest electoral exercise. With 102 seats up for grabs across 21 states and union territories in the inaugural phase, citizens are exercising their democratic right to choose their representatives.The electoral battle features prominent figures such as Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Kiren Rijiju, Sarbanada Sonowal, Jitendra Singh, and Bhupendra Yadav, along with contenders like Gaurav Gogoi from the Congress, Kanimozhi from the DMK, and K. Annamalai, the Tamil Nadu BJP chief.
• The southern region, with 39 seats from Tamil Nadu and one from Puducherry, dominates the first phase of polling.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi made multiple visits to Tamil Nadu during campaigning, highlighting the BJP’s efforts to make inroads into the state’s political landscape. However, the primary contest remains between the two Dravidian heavyweights, the ruling DMK and the AIADMK.
Spread across the nation:
• Apart from Tamil Nadu, voting is also underway in various other states, including 25 seats in Rajasthan, eight in Uttar Pradesh, and six each in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Assam.• Additionally, polling is being conducted for five seats in both Maharashtra and Assam, four in Bihar, three in West Bengal, two in Arunachal Pradesh, and one seat each in Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chhattisgarh.Out of India’s staggering 97 crore registered voters, a significant portion of 16.63 crore individuals are eligible to cast their votes in this initial phase. Among them are 35.67 lakh first-time voters and 3.51 crore young voters, aged between 20 and 29, who hold the power to influence the electoral outcome.