LS polls: Voting begins amid tight security

NEW DELHI: Staggered polling began on Thursday morning for the first phase of elections across 15 states and two union territories to elect a new Lok Sabha as also legislative assemblies in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa amid tight security.

Voting began at 0700 hrs in 124 constituencies in the first round of the five-phase elections and would end at 1700 hrs in most places, except in naxal-infested areas where it would close at 1500 hrs.

Public canvassing for votes was prohibited 38 hours before the start of polling, but political and civil society activists continued to exhort voters to exercise their franchise.

Over 14.31 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes today across 1.85 lakh polling stations set up by the Election Commission and secured by tens of thousands of police personnel.

While all 20 seats in Kerala, 11 in Chhattisgarh and two in Meghalaya are going to polls in a single phase on Thursday, polling would be held in 13 out of 40 seats in Bihar, 16 out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra 13 (48), Andhra Pradesh 22 (42), Jharkhand 6 (14), Orissa 10 (21), Assam 3 (14), Arunachal Pradesh 2 (2), Manipur 1 (2) and Jammu and Kashmir 1 (6). Polling is also underway to 154 assembly segments in Andhra and 70 in Orissa.

As many as 1,715 candidates, including 122 women, are in the fray in the first phase with the prominent names being RJD's Lalu Prasad, Murli Manohar Joshi of BJP and Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao.