Lok Sabha elections 2019: Many leaders among early voters as PM Narendra Modi appeals for high turnout
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | ByHT Correspondent
Apr 29, 2020 09:58 PM IST
Naidu, his wife N. Bhuvaneswari, son N Lokesh and daughter-in-law N. Brahmani exercised their franchise at a polling booth in Undavalli in Mangalagiri Assembly constituency in Guntur district.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N. Chandrababu Naidu along with his family members cast his vote in the state capital region Amaravati at around 8 am.
Naidu, his wife N. Bhuvaneswari, son N. Lokesh and daughter-in-law N. Brahmani exercised their franchise at a polling booth in Undavalli in Mangalagiri Assembly constituency in Guntur district.
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After coming out of the polling booth, they showed their inked fingers to the media persons.
Watch: LS Election 2019: First phase of voting kicks off across India
Naidu and Lokesh said every voter should exercise his democratic right.
“It is the duty of every citizen to participate in the democratic process by casting his vote,” said Naidu, PTI reported
Lokesh, who is making his electoral debut, is the party candidate from Mangalagiri while Naidu is seeking re-election from Kuppam in his native Chittoor district.
YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy also voted within the first hour. “People are hoping for a change,” he said after casting his vote.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was among the early ones to cast his vote in Maharashtra’s Nagpur constituency, where Union minister Nitin Gadkari is the BJP’s candidate.
Bhagwat along with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi arrived at a polling booth at Bhauji Daftari School in Mahal area around 6.50 am.
Talking to media-persons after exercising his franchise, Bhagwat appealed people to come out to vote in large numbers.
“Voting is necessary and a sacred responsibility of all. Vote for national security, development and identity,” he said, reports PTI
Polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections began in the morning in Maharashtra’s seven constituencies - Nagpur, Wardha, Ramtek, Bhandara-Gondiya, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli-Chimur and Yavatmal-Washim.
All these constituencies are located in the state’s Vidarbha region.
Union Minster and the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Ghaziabad cast his vote soon after polling began at Schiller Public School in Raj Nagar accompanied by party workers to exercise his franchise.
Singh is seeking re-election and is locked in a triangular contest with Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party coalition candidate Suresh Bansal, and Congress nominee Dolly Sharma, a young professional with a political lineage.
· Also among early voters were former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat and ex-CMs Harish Rawat and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank