NEW DELHI: Around nine crore Indians came out to vote in the first phase of over-a-month-long Lok Sabha elections. Complaints poured in about missing voter names and glitches in electronic voting machines in some areas, though officials maintained the polling was largely peaceful with moderate-to-large voter turnout.
West Bengal, where voting took place for two Lok Sabha seats, saw the maximum 81 per cent voting, while state election officers put the voting percentage at 73 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, where violent clashes left at least two persons dead. In the first phase, the BJP has sought to defend 32 seats, including those being fought by senior party leader Nitin Gadkari and five other union ministers, and also expand its tally in states dominated by regional players last time.
The main opposition Congress is hoping to defend seven seats it won in 2014, besides eyeing gains in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.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.
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. A 13-year-old class 7 student was killed in firing by security forces during clashes in Handwara area of Kupwara district in the evening.
A police official said as security personnel were withdrawing from the polling stations at Mandigam, Handwara after day long poll duty, they came under stone pelting from a group of youth in the evening. The security personnel fired pellets and tear gas shells to disperse the mob. In the security forces firing, two youth sustained injuries and were evacuated to Sub District Hospital, Kralagaund. Around 73 per cent of over three lakh voters in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands exercised their franchise while over 57 per cent of the electorate in Uttarakhand exercised their franchise.