New Delhi. In the world’s largest democracy, the election mega-kumbh is going to be held on Friday i.e. 19th April. The first phase of voting will be held in 102 parliamentary constituencies of 21 states and union territories. The fate of 1625 candidates is going to be decided in this, including many star candidates. Besides, assembly elections are also going to be held in Arunachal Pradesh (60 seats) and Sikkim (32 seats) in the first phase. Before voting, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has shared the video. People have been appealed to participate enthusiastically in this. The fate of many popular candidates of the country is going to be decided in the first phase.
Prominent candidates in the first phase include Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and BJP leader and Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav, Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi and DMK’s Kanimozhi. The fate of Jitin Prasad from Pilibhit will also be decided in place of Nakul Nath, son of former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, Dayanidhi Maran, K Annamalai, Karti Chidambaram, Tamilisai Sundararajan, Varun Gandhi.
35.67 lakh people became first time voters
According to the Election Commission, voting will start at 7 in the morning and continue till 6 in the evening. The Commission has deployed more than 18 lakh polling personnel at 1.87 lakh polling stations. More than 16.63 crore voters will be able to exercise their franchise at these polling stations. The voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 third gender. 35.67 lakh people have become voters for the first time. Along with this, there are 3.51 crore youth voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
NDA vs India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is trying to win more seats, while constituents of the opposition alliance ‘India’ are hoping for a comeback after consecutive defeats in the 2014 and 2019 elections. are doing.
Voting on all Lok Sabha seats of these states
The states where voting will be held on all Lok Sabha seats in the first phase include Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland ( 1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1). Apart from this, voting will be held on 12 seats in Rajasthan, 8 in Uttar Pradesh, 6 in Madhya Pradesh, 5 each in Assam and Maharashtra, 4 in Bihar, 3 in West Bengal, 2 in Manipur and one seat each in Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh. will be. The election campaign for the first phase ended on Wednesday evening.
Congress alliance got 102 seats in 2019
In the last elections (2019), UPA had won 45 out of these 102 seats and NDA had won 41 seats. The Election Commission said that 41 helicopters, 84 special trains and about one lakh vehicles have been deployed to transport polling and security personnel. Along with the deployment of ‘micro’ observers at all polling stations, webcasting will be done at more than 50 percent of the polling stations. Apart from this, 361 observers (127 general, 67 police and 167 expenditure observers) have already reached their constituencies before voting. They will act as the “eyes and ears” of the Commission while special observers have also been appointed in some states.
Preparations have been going on for 2 years
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has been leading the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections for the last two years. He presided over a conference of Chief Electoral Officers of States at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. Prominent leaders contesting in the first phase include Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur, Kiren Rijiju from Arunachal Pradesh (West), Arjun Ram Meghwal from Bikaner, Sarbananda Sonowal from Dibrugarh in Assam, Sanjeev Baliyan from Muzaffarnagar, Jitendra Singh from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir and Bhupendra Yadav is included from Alwar, Rajasthan.
Chhindwara to Nakulnath
Nakulnath, son of Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, is contesting elections again from Chhindwara. With an aim to increase the voting percentage, the election body had also organized a conference with a focus on constituencies with low turnout in the previous elections.
passion beats the heat
In view of the scorching heat in various parts of the country, Kumar said that people should take precautions considering the weather. He said, ‘But I know that the enthusiasm of Indian voters will beat the heat.’ He said, ‘In our great democracy, the choice is yours, the choice is yours… You are deciding the government. You are doing this for yourself, for your family and children, for your village or town and of course for the country. Urging people to vote, Kumar said that they should never underestimate the power of their ‘one vote’.
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Tags: Loksabha Election 2024, Loksabha Elections
FIRST PUBLISHED: April 19, 2024, 24:05 IST