First phase of LS polls to begin with voting in 102 constituencies across 21 states today
New Delhi, April 18 (Bureau) The World’ s largest democracy India is all set to go to Lok Sabha Polls 2024 to begin on Friday, with polling will be held in 102 constituencies spread across 21 states and Union Territories in the first phase. “The Election Commission of India has made all preparations to welcome voters to the biggest festival of democracy that any nation has witnessed. Along with Lok Sabha seats, the elections to 92 Assembly Constituencies in Arunachal and Sikkim will also see voting in a single phase tomorrow”, EC said in a statement. The Voting will begin at 7 am and ends at 6 pm. According to the Election Commission, a total of 16.63 crore voters will cast their vote in the first phase.
Voters include 8.4 crore are Male, 8.23 crore Female and 11,371 are third gender in this phase. A total of 1.87 lakh polling stations have been set up, while 18 lakh police personnel have been deployed to conduct smooth and fair elections. Around 35.67 lakh first time voters are registered to cast their votes. Additionally, there are 3.51 crore young voters in the age group for 20-29 years. As per EC data, 1625 candidates are in the fray in the first phase. The Commission informed that 41 helicopters, 84 Special trains and nearly 1 lakh vehicles have been deployed to ferry polling and security personnel. A total of 1374 inter-state and 162 international Border check posts have been established to keep strict vigil on any illicit flow of liquor, drugs, cash and freebies.
“Strict surveillance has been kept at sea and air routes” EC said. All parliamentary constituencies which will go to the poll tomorrow include Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu. Voting will also take place for 12 seats of Rajasthan, eight seats of Uttar Pradesh, six seats of Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Maharashtra, four seats of Bihar, three seats of West Bengal, two seats in Manipur and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir. The Lok Sabha elections of 2024 will be conducted across seven phases followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.