DE Online Desk:
New Delhi (India): The first phase Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, elections are set to kick off with polling in 102 constituencies across 21 states in the India, with 16.63 crore eligible voters, on Friday morning.
The high-voltage campaign for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls ended on Wednesday evening. In this regard lakhs of polling personnel made their way to their stations on Thursday.
From polling parties travelling by ship and boat to reach Lakshadweep’s Kiltan Island to officials trekking to reach remote booths in Arunachal Pradesh’ Siang district, the Election Commission said it was ready for the polls to open at 7am on Friday, reports India Express.
As many as 18 lakh polling personnel will work at 1.87 lakh polling stations.
The commission, comprising Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, “gave final touches to poll preparations on Thursday at 12 noon for a smooth run of phase one,” it said in a statement.
- Advertisement -
In a video released on Thursday, the chief election commissioner appealed to voters to participate in the polls. Referring to the warning about heatwaves during the seven-phase elections, he said, “There is talk about summer heat, it is true. You, and we, should take all the precautions, but I know the spirit of the Indian voter will beat the summer heat.”
Apart from the 102 Lok Sabha seats, Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will also be held on Friday. Among the states that will have polling in phase one are Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Of the total 16.63 crore voters in phase one, there are 8.4 crore male, 8.23 crore female and 11,371 transgender voters. Over 35 lakh first-time electors are also eligible to cast their votes. As many as 1,625 candidates (1,491 male and 134 female) are in the fray, as per the commission.
Meanwhile, the country has more than 2,500 political parties but just 10 of them hold 86 percent of all seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.
