RNS: The world’s largest democracy is gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections, with the first phase of voting set to begin on Friday. This phase will cover 102 parliamentary seats across 21 states and union territories, marking the start of a massive electoral process.
Arunachal Pradesh (60 seats) and Sikkim (32 seats) will also conduct legislative elections as part of the first phase.
Key candidates in this phase include Congressman Gaurav Gogoi, DMK leader Kanimozhi, and union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Sarbananda Sonowal, and Bhupendra Yadav.
According to the Election Commission, voting will commence at 7 a.m. and conclude at 6 p.m. A staggering 18 lakh election officials will be deployed across 1.87 lakh booths. Approximately 16.63 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots in this phase.
The voter demographics include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women, and 11,371 individuals identifying as third gender. Furthermore, 35.67 lakh first-time voters are expected to participate, along with 3.51 crore individuals aged 20-29 years.
Several regions will witness voting for all Lok Sabha seats in the first round, including Chennai (39 seats), Uttarakhand (5 seats), Arunachal Pradesh (2 seats), Meghalaya (2 seats), and single seats in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, and Lakshadweep.
Moreover, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Manipur, Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chhattisgarh will vote for 12 seats, 8 seats, 6 seats, and 1 seat respectively in the first phase.
