First-phase voting for 102 parliamentary seats in 21 states and Union Territories took place in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 of India.

Up to 60% of voters in all 102 parliamentary constituencies cast ballots through Friday at 5 p.m. Voting was conducted from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m, reports First Post. 

In West Bengal, where elections were being held for three seats—Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduar—sporadic violent occurrences were documented. By 10 am, the Election Commission had received scores of complaints about violence in the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat from both the TMC and the BJP.

While the elections were going on in Chhattisgarh, a blast was reported 500 meters from a voting place in the Galgam area of Bijapur, in the Naxal-affected Bastar region. One of the security guards was hurt while practicing area dominance with the rest of the team.

Arunachal Pradesh (2 seats), Assam (5 seats), Bihar (4 seats), Chhattisgarh (1 seat), Madhya Pradesh (6 seats), Maharashtra (5 seats), Manipur (2 seats), Meghalaya (2), Mizoram (1 seat), Nagaland (1 seat), Rajasthan (12 seats), Sikkim (1 seat), Tamil Nadu (39 seats), Tripura (1 seat), Uttar Pradesh (8 seats), Uttarakhand (5 seats), Andaman and Nicobar (1 seat), Jammu and Kashmir (1 seat), Lakshadweep (1 seat), and Puducherry (1 seat).

The first phase of the Tamil Nadu election will involve all 39 seats. In the aftermath of Prime Minister Modi’s election-related campaign blitz, the state is currently seeing a three-cornered battle.

Today, voting took place in 92 constituencies for the Assembly Elections in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Voting for the 543 Lok Sabha seats will take place in seven stages starting today. Aiming for a record-breaking third term under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has set a goal of gaining 400 seats in this election. The opposition parties, united under the INDIA bloc banner and led by the Congress, pose a threat to the government coalition.

On June 4, all seven phases of the Lok Sabha Elections will have their ballots counted.

Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque