The first phase of voting for the 18th Lok Sabha elections began in 21 states and Union territories today. By 5 pm, a voter turnout of over 60 per cent was recorded across the states. Seats in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, 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 are up for polls today.
Over 16.63 crore voters, comprising more than 8 crore men and 8 crore women, are expected to cast their votes across nearly 2 lakh polling stations.
Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Bhupendra Yadav, Kiren Rijiju, Jitendra Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, and Sarbananda Sonowal are among those contesting in the first phase. Congress's Gaurav Gogoi, DMK's Kanimozhi, and BJP's Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai are also participating in today's polls.
Check out the voting percentage of key constituencies here:
Coimbatore-
K. Annamalai, the BJP leader in Tamil Nadu, is vying for the Lok Sabha seat in Coimbatore. He faces competition from DMK's Ganapathy P. Rajkumar and AIADMK's Singai Ramachandran. Annamalai, a former IPS officer turned politician, has made ambitious promises for Coimbatore in his manifesto. The voting percentage till 1 pm is 39 per cent.
Tripura-
In the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat, the main contest is between BJP candidate Biplab Kumar Deb and state Congress president Asish Kumar Saha, who is backed by the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, despite nine candidates being in the running. Tripura has witnessed a 34.54 per cent voter turnout as of 1 pm.
Nagpur-
In Nagpur, the electoral battle is directly between senior BJP leader Gadkari, aiming for a third term, and Congress candidate Vikas Thakre. Currently, the voter turnout stands at 9 percent.
South Chennai-
The key candidates in the polls include J Jayavardhan from AIADMK, Thamizhachi Thangapandian from DMK, and Tamilisai Soundararajan from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). South Chennai recorded an average voter turnout of 10.08 per cent.
Kanyakumari-
Among the key candidates for the Kanniyakumari Constituency from various political parties are Basilion Nazareth from AIADMK, Vijay Vasanth from INC, Pon. Radhakrishnan from BJP, and Mariya Jennifer from NTK. The voting percentage till 1 pm is 40.3 per cent.
Jaipur-
Over 22 per cent voter turnout was seen in Jaipur on Friday. BJP has fielded Manju Sharma to take on Congress' Pratap Singh Khachariyawas