Polling began for 95 Lok Sabha seats across 11 states in the second phase of the 2019 general elections on Thursday. The original schedule was for 97 seats, but the Election Commission of India has cancelled polling in Vellore (Tamil Nadu) and Tripura East constituencies. All major states except Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana will go to polls in more than one phase in the 2019 elections.
Follow highlights here:
*Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami voted at a booth in Siluvampalayam village near Edappadi at Salem.]
*Among early voters were Congress leaders Sushilkumar Shinde, P Chidambaram and Tamil star Rajinikanth
Read: In voting for 95 seats, biggest chunk up for grab in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka
*EVM glitches were reported from Mathura, from where actor-turned-politician Hema Malini is contesting, and Agra.
*Voter turnout in in Bihar is 5.73%, till 8am.
*Karnataka: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman casts her vote at a polling booth in Jayanagar of Bangalore South Parliamentary constituency.
*Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, his wife Anitha Kumaraswamy and their son and JD(S) candidate from Mandya, Nikhil, cast their votes at a polling station in Ramanagara.
* Voting in some polling booths in Tamil Nadu was delayed on Thursday owing to technical problems with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). In the Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency, voters had to stand in queue in several booths for nearly an hour to cast their votes.
* Moderate voting was recorded in the first two hours of polling in the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies across Karnataka’s central and southern regions, an election official said .
*Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) chief TTV Dinakaran cast his vote at a polling station in Besant Nagar in Chennai South parliamentary constituency.
*At 9 am, the voting percentage in Tamil Nadu is 13.48% .
{{/usCountry}}*At 9 am, the voting percentage in Tamil Nadu is 13.48% .
{{/usCountry}}*Around 11 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first two hours of polling in three Lok Sabha constituencies of Chhattisgarh , an official said.
*Polling has temporarily halted at booth number 217 in Solapur’s Shastri Nagar in Maharashtra due to fault in Electronic Voting Machine, reports news agency ANI.
*A 95-year-old man died in Bhubaneswar while waiting in a queue to vote in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha.
* BJP general secretary and candidate from Raiganj constituency in West Bengal Debasree Chaudhuri alleged TMC workers were trying to capture a booth. “TMC workers were trying to capture booth. They were campaigning among Muslims there. This isn’t election campaign,” she said, according to ANI.
* Security personnel lobbed tear gas shells and lathicharged locals as they blocked a highway after unknown miscreants allegedly prevented them from casting their votes at Digirpar polling booth in Chopra, in Islampur subdivision of North Dinajpur.
*Voter turnout till 11 AM in Assam was 26.39%, in Chhattisgarh it was 26.2%
*Around 35 per cent polling was recorded in Maharashtra’s three Lok Sabha constituencies --- Akola, Amravati and Buldhana, in Vidarbha till 1.00 this afternoon.
*Jayasheela Poojaari Ulthuru of Kundapura came to the polling booth in an ambulance to cast his vote. He had met with an accident 20 days ago was confined to bed.
* Election Commission officials searched the luggage and chopper of Karnakata chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, reported news agency ANI.