Lok Sabha elections: Voting underway, PM Modi says vote in record numbers

Voting in Lok Sabha polls: Out of India's 97 crore registered voters for the elections to the 543-strong Lok Sabha, 16.63 crore are eligible to vote today.

Voting for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 began on Friday morning. 102 seats spread across 21 states and union territories have gone to polls in the first phase of the seven-phased general elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged young and first time voters to exercise their fundamental right in large numbers.

Polling officials after collecting EVMs and other election material on the eve of the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, in Sikkim on Thursday. (ANI)

"The 2024 Lok Sabha elections commence today! As 102 seats across 21 States and UTs go to the polls, I urge all those voting in these seats to exercise their franchise in record numbers. I particularly call upon the young and first time voters to vote in large numbers. After all, every vote counts and every voice matters!" he wrote on X on Friday morning.

Out of India's 97 crore registered voters for the elections to the 543-strong Lok Sabha, the country's Lower House of Parliament, 16.63 crore are eligible to vote today.

Follow Live Updates on Lok Sabha elections phase 1 here

In the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, 35.67 lakh first time voters and 3.51 crore young voters aged between 20 and 29 are also eligible to vote.

The Lok Sabha elections will conclude in Tamil Nadu (39 seats), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1), after the first phase of polling.

In Rajasthan, 12 seats have gone to polls. Eight seats in Uttar Pradesh, six in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Maharashtra, four in Bihar, three in West Bengal, two in Manipur, and one seat each in Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh, will also vote today.

Voting for the assembly elections is underway in Arunachal Pradesh (60 seats) and Sikkim (32 seats).

Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Sarbananda Sonowal, Gaurav Gogoi of Congress and DMK's Kanimozhi are in the fray in Phase 1 of the Lok Sabha elections.

Besides Gadkari, Sonowal, seven other Union ministers--Bhupendra Yadav, Kiren Rijiju, Sanjeev Baliyan, Jitendra Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, L Murugan and Nisith Pramanik--are in the poll fray in the first phase.

Pulling off a stellar performance in Tamil Nadu is central to the BJP's plan to win 370 seats and steer the NDA to the 400-plus figure.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spearheaded an aggressive election campaign in Tamil Nadu, with development and honour for Tamil language and culture as his main election plank. The BJP and the DMK also attacked each other over the Katchatheevu issue.

The BJP had drawn a blank in Tamil Nadu in the 2019 general elections. The DMK had won 38 seats.

In 2019, the BJP had pulled off its best-ever performance by winning 303 seats.

With inputs from PTI