Phase 1: High turnout in WB, Tripura: Lowest in Bihar

The world’s largest polling exercise began on Thursday with an estimated 9 crore Indians coming out to vote for electing 91 parliamentarians in the first phase of over-a-month-long Lok Sabha elections for which the Modi government has made nationalism its core pitch against a fragmented Opposition. However, poll-related violence saw at least two deaths.

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

According to reports, Tripura registered voting percentage at 81.8 per cent and, West Bengal recorded 81 per cent voter turnout. Election officers put the voting percentage at 73 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, where violent clashes left at least two persons dead. Some reports put the number of deaths in poll-related clashes at three. Incidents of EVM damage and stone pelting marked the high octane polling that saw a large number out of the over 3.97 crore eligible voters turning up braving the scorchingsummer heat. Polling was held simultaneously for 175 Assembly seats featuring 2,118 candidates and 25 Lok Sabha seats having 319 contestants.

An estimated 61 per cent of voters cast their ballot Thursday in Lok Sabha elections in Telangana, exercise passed off peacefully, officials said. All the 17 segments, including Nizamabad that saw over 170 farmers contesting demanding remunerative price for their produce, went to polls in the single phase and till 5 pm, 60.57 per cent voting was recorded.

The poll panel did not share the overall polling percentage at its briefing, saying the data was still being collated. However, the estimates pegged the total voter turnout in the first phase 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 state also saw protests over defective EVMs in some areas and at least one incident of firing. The first-phase Lok Sabha constituencies included all 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh, 17 in Telangana, five in Uttarakhand, two in Meghalaya, two in Arunachal Pradesh and lone seats in Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep. More on P10