New Delhi: The first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 is very exciting. Voting continues for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, which will continue till 6 pm. In the first phase, voting is being held on 102 seats in 21 states and union territories. In the first phase, eight Union Ministers, one former Governor and two former Chief Ministers are in the fray.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is contesting from Nagpur seat in Maharashtra, Kiran Rijiju from Arunachal West seat and Sarbananda Sonowal from Dibrugarh in Assam. Rijiju is contesting from former Chief Minister Nabam Tuki. Apart from this, other Union Ministers include Jitendra Singh from Udhampur seat of Jammu and Kashmir, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal from Bikaner, L. Murugan and Bhupendra Yadav are contesting from Alwar seat of Rajasthan.
BJP has made former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Sundararajan its candidate from Chennai South Lok Sabha constituency. Former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb is contesting from West Tripura.
According to the Election Commission, 1.87 lakh polling stations have been set up across the country for the first phase of voting where a total of more than 16.63 crore voters will be able to exercise their franchise. The fate of a total of 1,625 candidates is to be decided in the first phase of elections.
Among the voters of the first phase, there are 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 third gender. Of these, 35.67 lakh voters are registered to exercise their franchise for the first time. Additionally, there are 3.51 crore youth voters in the age group of 20-29 years. There are more than 14.14 lakh registered voters above 85 years of age and 13.89 lakh persons with disabilities (PWD) who have been provided the option to vote from their homes.
41 helicopters, 84 special trains and about one lakh vehicles have been deployed to transport polling and security personnel.
18 lakh officers deployed to conduct peaceful voting
The Election Commission has deployed more than 18 lakh polling officials to ensure peaceful and fair elections. This time the Lok Sabha elections will be conducted in seven different phases. The last phase will take place on June 1. Counting of votes is to take place on June 4.
Assembly elections will also be held on these seats
Along with the first phase, apart from 102 parliamentary seats of Lok Sabha, assembly elections will also be held in Arunachal and Sikkim. Important seats on which elections are to be held in the first phase. They include Kanyakumari, Chennai Central, Pilibhit, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Kairana, Jaipur, Bastar, Nainital, Lakshadweep, Chhindwara, Jamui etc.
