Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 1 LIVE: This election is about making India a big global power in next 5 years, says PM Modi

The first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, which will cover 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories, saw an estimated 50% turnout by 3 p.m. on Friday. There were intermittent violent incidents in West Bengal, and an unintentional grenade launcher shell explosion in Chhattisgarh claimed the life of a CRPF jawan.

According to a spokesman for the Election Commission, the 49.78 percent turnout estimate was simply an estimate, and the polling process was going “smoothly and peacefully.”

Six Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, where the first phase of elections is taking place on Friday, had voter turnout of 53.40 percent as of 3 p.m., according to an official.

According to the official, the polling percentages by constituency are as follows: Balaghat 63.69%, Chhindwara 62.57, Jabalpur 48.05, Mandla 58.28, Shahdol 48.64, and Sidhi 40.60.

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and Telangana BJP chairman G Kishan Reddy submitted their candidacy for the Lok Sabha elections on Friday.

Speaking at a rally prior to submitting his nomination for the May 13 elections, Kishan Reddy asserted that the Congress lacked the moral authority to pursue votes in Telangana without keeping its poll-related pledges.

He declared that the “BRS era” in the state had come to an end, making fun of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti. Owaisi filed his paperwork for the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat in the interim after praying at the Mecca Masjid on Friday.

In Manipur, a state engulfed in ethnic violence since May of last year, violence and claims of damaged electronic voting machines coupled with at least two gunfire incidents near polling places in the Manipur valley marred the polling process.

One victim, identified as Khoisnam Sayamaima (65), was shot after an armed individual opened fire at a polling booth in Khurai, Imphal East, at approximately 2:00 pm. Later, the polling booth was vandalized and documents were set on fire.

According to officials; there was also an early gunfire incident at Thamanpokpi in Bishnupur district. Both of these areas are located in the Inner Manipur constituency, which encompasses the majority Meitei Imphal valley.

A voter turnout of 50.96 per cent was recorded till 1 pm in the three Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal where elections were underway in the first phase on Friday, officials said.

Polling started at 7 am in Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduars seats, where a total of 56.26 lakh people are eligible to vote, they said.

In the first six hours of voting in eight seats in western Uttar Pradesh, where the first round of the Lok Sabha election is being held, voter turnout averaged 47.44%.

Sanjay Kumar Singh, the district magistrate for Pilibhit, stated: “We have heard that some people are skipping the votes due to local difficulties. The relevant officials have been instructed to go to these settlements, hold conversations with the locals, and make sure they cast ballots. Harendra Singh Malik, the candidate for the Samajwadi Party (SP), accused a hamlet in the Muzaffarnagar area of booth capture and urged the EC to send in paramilitary troops.

On April 19, the Left leader stated that, in contrast to Congress politicians, he was not frightened to go to jail. This came a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, questioning why the politician had not been detained or subjected to an interrogation by federal agents.

Gandhi attacked Vijayan on Thursday during speeches at many election campaigns in the State, questioning why the Left politician was singled out for criticism while he was engaged in battle with the BJP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the Congress and INDIA bloc are busy insulting the Hindu faith and beliefs adding that these were the same people who called the worship of Lord Ram a “paakhand” (hyprocrisy).

Addressing an election rally in Damoh, Prime Minister Modi said, “Congress and INDI alliance are busy insulting our faith. These people say that our Sanatan is dengue and malaria. They were against the Ram Temple that had been built in Ayodhya. These people call the worship of Lord Shri Ram ‘paakhand’ (hypocrisy). These were the same people who did not come to Ayodhya to attend Pran Pratishta. It is just for vote bank politics.”

Phase one of the Lok Sabha elections is now taking place in many States and Union Territories, and the Election Commission reported “substantial” voter turnout up to 1 p.m. on April 19.

It stated that voting was proceeding “smoothly and peacefully” in all 21 states and the Union Territories.

For the first time in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, seven members of the Shompen tribe, a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTGs) of Great Nicobar Islands on Friday exercised their voting rights for the lone Lok Sabha seat in the union territory, an official said.

Not only Shompen tribe members exercised their voting rights at polling station 411 named as ‘Shompen Hut’ built inside the forest staff quarters but also they posed for selfies at a designated cut-out made by the Election Commission of India, which reads, “I vote for sure”.

The Shompen tribes were assisted in their language by an interpreter known as ‘Mathiyas’ (a Nicobari tribal youth).

Speaking to PTI, Chief Electoral Officer, BS Jaglan said, “This is for the first time a total of seven members of Shompen tribe exercised their voting rights. Earlier, we have given them training about EVMs and VVPATs through a trainer. It’s good to see that they came out of the jungle and voted for the first time.”

Polling is underway in 102 parliamentary seats across 21 states and Union Territories in the first phase of high-octane Lok Sabha elections today, 19 April.

The polling commenced at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.

However, violence disrupted the first phase of voting in West Bengal, Manipur, and Chhattisgarh despite strict security measures.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the ongoing Lok Sabha election is about making India a big global power in the next five years and asserted a strong and stable government was needed in view of prevailing situation in the world.

Addressing an election rally at Damoh in Madhya Pradesh, he accused the Congress of weakening the defence sector for decades when in power and alleged the opposition party did not want French made Rafale fighter jets to come to India.

Two-time MP Naba Kumar Sarania submitted his candidature on April 19 for the Lok Sabha seat designated for the ST, one day after the Guwahati High Court ruled that his ST certificate was void and that he was not permitted to run for office.

Sarania filed a writ case, which the High Court denied, contesting the State Level Scrutiny Committee’s decision to revoke his Scheduled Tribe (Plains) designation.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday submitted his nomination papers for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat from where he is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and said the general election is all about giving a third term to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Shah was accompanied by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel when he submitted the nomination papers to Gandhinagar collector and district election officer M K Dave in the state capital at exactly 12.39 pm, considered as ‘Vijay Muhurat’.

Talking to reporters, Shah said this general election is all about giving a third term to PM Modi so that he can make India a developed country by 2047.

The Union minister said Modi’s third term will be crucial because his first two terms went into correcting the mistakes made by the previous Congress-led UPA government.

Phase one of the Lok Sabha elections, which cover 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories, began on Friday. Amid intermittent violent incidents in West Bengal and an IED blast in Chhattisgarh that injured a CRPF commandant, an estimated 40% of voters turned out to cast ballots in the first six hours of voting.

Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have all reported experiencing minor EVM difficulties at various booths.

The polls close at 6 PM, having opened at 7 AM. Voter participation was greatest in Tripura, where 53.04 voters cast ballots till 1 pm, and lowest in Lakshwadeep, where 29.91 voters cast ballots. These figures were reported by election officials.

India bloc officials met with Tripura’s CEO on 19 April to register a protest about anomalies, particularly in the Ramnagar Assembly constituency in Agartala, where a by-election is taking place.

They said that some polling agents for CPIM candidate Ratan Das were chased away or barred from accessing voting booths. Dipak Majumder, BJP’s by-election candidate, refuted the claims.

Assam reported EVM malfunctioning at three polling booths of Bihpuria in Lakhimpur, one each in Hojai, Kaliabor and Bokakhat, and one in Naharkatia of Dibrugarh, an official said.

“Most of the glitches were noticed during the mock poll, which started 90 minutes before the commencement of actual voting. Those glitches were rectified immediately. Voting started sometime late in those booths and now it is going smoothly,” officials said.

The state saw a polling percentage of 45.12%.

Dipak Sarkar, a voter in Sitalkuchi, Coochbehar got hurt while he went to cast his vote. He was hit on his eyes.

An estimated 38 per cent of the total 8,92,694 voters exercised their franchise till 1pm on Friday in Arunachal Pradesh where polling for two Lok Sabha seats and 50 assembly constituencies is underway, officials said.

The ruling BJP has already won ten seats in the 60-member assembly unopposed.

The turnout, which was moderate in the morning hours due to inclement weather, gained momentum as condition improved during the day.

In a few polling stations, voting was delayed as electronic voting machines (EVMs) developed technical snags which were later replaced, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Sain said.

Though reports of poll-related violence poured in from a few districts, the election officials here are yet to confirm it.

Chhindwara mayor Vikram Ahake, who recently joined the BJP, urged people to vote for Congress’ Nakul Nath.

“Soon after joining a political party, I was feeling suffocated. I felt that I was not doing the right thing with a person who has developed Chhindwara,” Ahake said in a video message shared on social media. I don’t know what will happen to me, but if I don’t stand with my leader Kamal Nath and Nakul Nath today… as they have done a lot for me… I appeal to the voters to ensure the victory of Nakul Nath (and his father Kamal Nath) with a huge margin,” he said in the video message.

West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose is keeping a close watch on the proceedings of the first phase polling in three Lok Sabha constituencies in the state on Friday from ‘Peace Room’ at the Raj Bhavan here, an official said.

Bose, who offered his prayers at the Kalighat Temple this morning for free and peaceful polling in the three constituencies, started ‘monitoring’ the situation there from the ‘Peace Room’, the official said.

The Raj Bhavan was instantly forwarding the complaints received at the ‘Peace Room’ to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for them to take necessary action, he said.

“I will fulfil my duties as the Governor. The responsibility of holding a free and fair election is that of the ECI,” Bose told reporters.

Six districts of eastern Nagaland wore a deserted look on Friday as people stayed indoors following an indefinite shutdown call by the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO), an apex body of the seven tribal organisations of the area, to press for its demand for a separate state.

Sources said while the situation is peaceful, there is no movement of any person or vehicles except that of the district administration and other emergency services.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer of Nagaland Awa Loring said election officials are stationed in the 738 polling stations in the six districts of the region.

Sources added there was no voter turnout till 11am. Polling comes to an end at 4pm.

A voter turnout of 33.63 per cent was recorded till 11 am in the three Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal where elections were underway in the first phase on Friday, officials said.

Polling started at 7 am in Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduars seats, where a total of 56.26 lakh people are eligible to vote, they said.

“Till 11 am, voter turnout in Coochbehar was 33.63 per cent, while that in Jalpaiguri was 31.94 per cent, and Alipurduars was 35.20 per cent,” an election official said.

All three seats are reserved, with Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri for SCs and Alipurduars for STs.

A total of 37 candidates are in the fray in the three constituencies where voting will continue till 6 pm.

The territory is within the authority of the West Tripura Parliamentary constituency, where voting is now taking place as part of the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

Concurrently, by-elections are being held in the Ramnagar assembly seat, coinciding with the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

This by-election followed the death of the current MLA, Surajit Dutta, in December of last year.

Amit Shah, a union minister, submitted his nomination from the Gandhinagar seat on Friday. Sonal, his spouse, was with him. Shah is the Gandhinagar constituency’s current Member of Parliament.