Polling for 91 Lok Sabha constituencies, spread across 18 states and two Union Territories, began on Thursday morning amidst heightened security. Among the constituencies going for polls in the first phase are – eight in Uttar Pradesh, five in Uttarakhand, four in Bihar, seven in Maharashtra, five in Assam, four in Odisha, two each in Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and West Bengal, and one each in Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. Voting for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases – April 11, April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19. Counting of votes will be done on May 23.
Click here for latest updates on Lok Sabha Elections 2019
Here are Live Updates for the First phase of polling:
8.26 PM: Election Commission: There have been some incidents where EVMs have been damaged. 6 incidents in Andhra Pradesh, 5 in Arunachal Pradesh, 1 in Bihar, 2 in Manipur and 1 in West Bengal
6.33 pm: Poll % till 5 PM – Bihar: 50.26%, Telangana: 60.57%, Meghalaya: 62%, Uttar Pradesh: 59.77%, Manipur: 78.20%, Lakshadweep: 65.9%, Assam: 68%
5.41 pm: A bridegroom casts his vote at a polling station in Bijnor.
4.46 pm: Andhra Pradesh: A clash broke out between workers of TDP and YSRCP at a polling station in Srinivasapuram Village of Gurajala assembly constituency in Guntur district.
3.44 pm: Voter turnout till 3 pm in Lakshadweep is 51.25%, in Uttarakhand is 46.59% and in Manipur is 68.90%
2.53: Security personnel fired shots in air after some ppl tried to cast vote without voter ID at a polling station in Shamli. District Magistrate says,“BSF personnel, fired in air for security reasons after some ppl without voter ID tried to cast vote. Voting has resumed now.”
1.45 pm: Bihar: 34.60% voting recorded in Aurangabad, 33% in Gaya, 37% in Nawada and 29% in Jamui, till 1 pm. #LokSabhaElections2019
12.55 pm: Hyderabad: Tollywood actors Naga Chaitanya and Samantha arrive at a polling station in Nanakramguda, Gachibowli.
12.50 pm: Uttarakhand: Yog-Guru Ramdev casts his vote at a polling station in Haridwar in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections.
12.45 pm: Sonia Gandhi performs ‘havan’ ahead of filing nomination from Raebareli. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also present.
12.30 pm: Clash broke out between YSRCP and TDP workers in Puthalapattu Constituency in Bandarlapalli, Andhra Pradesh. Police resorted to lathi-charge.
12.20 pm: Queue of voters at a polling station in Injaram in naxal affected Sukma district
12.16 pm: Andhra Pradesh: Jana Sena Chief Pawan Kalyan at the polling booth set up at Chaitanya School in Vijayawada.
12.15 pm: Maharashtra: IED blast by naxals near a polling booth in Etapalli in Gadchiroli district, no injuries reported
12.15 pm: Telangana: Khammam Congress candidate Renuka Choudhary casts her vote. Says ‘I am hopeful that we will be able to win this race, I am very optimistic’.
12.15 pm: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Visuals of polling from booth number 49 in Dimapur, Nagaland.
12.05 pm: 24.66% voting recorded in Jammu & Baramulla parliamentary constituencies, 38.08% in West Bengal (2 seats) and 26.5% in Tripura (1 seat) till 11 am.
12.00 pm: 22.84% voting recorded in Telangana, 23.78% in Uttarakhand, 23.10% in Lakshadweep and 13.7% in Maharashtra(7 seats) till 11 am.
11.55 am: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: 24.32% voter turnout recorded till 11 am in 8 parliamentary constituencies.
11.40 am: 27% voting in Meghalaya till 11 am.
11.35 am: Telangana: Working President of Telangana Rashtra Samithi, KT Rama Rao casts his vote at a polling booth in Hyderabad.
11.30 am: Telangana: Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s Kalvakuntla Kavitha after casting her vote at a polling station in Pothangal, in Nizamabad parliamentary constituency earlier today.
11.20 am: Lok SabhaElections 2019: Voting underway at a polling station in Berhampur in Odisha
11.10 am: N Chandrababu Naidu in letter to CEC: Likely that many voters who returned may not come back for voting even if polling is resumed after replacement / repair of existing EVMs.Therefore repolling needed in all polling stations where polling had not commenced upto 9.30am.
11.05 am: LokSabhaElections2019 : Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal casts his vote at a polling station in Dibrugarh.
11.00 am: Amethi: Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani and her husband Zubin Irani perform ‘pooja’ ahead of her filing nomination from Amethi parliamentary constituency.
10.50 am: Jammu: Kashmiri Pandits in Udhampur cast their votes for Baramulla parliamentary constituency at a special polling station set-up at Municipal Town Hall. A voter says, “We are migrants here. It’s our duty to caste vote. We want to return to Baramulla”
10.40 am: Chhattisgarh: Villagers in Dantewada turnout in large numbers to cast their votes for #LokSabhaElections2019. On 9th April, BJP MLA Bheema Mandvi and four PSOs lost their lives in a naxal attack in Dantewada.
10.30 am: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: 18.12% voter turnout recorded till 9 am in West Bengal, 17.5% in Mizoram, 10.2% in Chhattisgarh and 15.6% in Manipur.
10.20 am: Maharashtra: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari cast his vote at polling booth number 220 in Nagpur parliamentary constituency Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
10.05 am: Chhattisgarh: ITBP&CGP joint party came under a naxal ambush when they were moving for a polling booth near Farasgaon, Narayanpur, in early morning hours today. ITBP jawans successfully broke the ambush&proceeded for polling booth where polling has begun. No casualties reported.
10.00 am: 9.83% voter turnout recorded till 9 am in Lakshwadweep.
9.55 am: AIMIM Chief and Hyderabad MP candidate Asaduddin Owaisi casts his vote at a polling booth in the city. He is a three time sitting MP from the constituency.
9.50 am: Voter turnout recorded till 9 am in Telangana is 10.6%, 5.83% in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 10.2% in Assam and 13.3% in Arunachal Pradesh.
9.45 am: Voter turnout till 9 am in Saharanpur- 8%, Kairana-10%, Muzaffarnagar-10%, Meerut- 10%, Bijnor – 11%, Baghpat – 11%, Ghaziabad – 12% and Gautam Budh Nagar-12%.
9.40 am: Ghulam Mohd,voter in Bandipora: This time we want to vote for someone who would raise our specific issues in Parliament, we want harmony in the region and as you can see voting is underway smoothly and in a peaceful manner.
9.30 am: Jana Sena MLA candidate Madhusudhan Gupta smashes an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at a polling booth in Gooty, in Anantapur district. He has been arrested by police.
9.30 am: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: 21% voter turnout recorded till 9 am in Nagaland parliamentary constituency.
9.25 am: Uttarakhand: Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat casts his vote at polling booth number 124 in Defence Colony, Dehradun.
9.20 am: Union Minister and Muzaffarnagar BJP candidate Dr. Sanjiv Balyan: Faces of women in burkhas are not being checked and I allege that fake voting is being done. If not looked into, I will demand a repoll.
9.15 am: Telangana: Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s K Kavitha casts her vote at a polling station in Pothangal, in Nizamabad parliamentary constituency.
9.05 am: Maharashtra: A 92 year old voter DN Sanghani accompanied by his son and daughter in law after casting their votes at a polling booth in Gondia.
9.00 am: Andhra Pradesh IT Minister & TDP’s Nara Lokesh in Amaravati: It’ll be a decisive win in Mangalgiri (assembly seat) and also across the state. I am here to convince my electorate that I am a meaningful and a worthy candidate, and I think I’ve done that.
8.45 am: Jammu & Kashmir, Visuals from polling booth number 97 in Bandipora, where voting is underway for Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
8.45 am: YSR Congress Party Chief Jagan Mohan Reddy after casting his votes in Kadapa: I’m very confident, people are looking for a change, vote without fear.
8.45 am: West Bengal: Senior citizen voters cast their vote at a polling booth in Coochbehar.
8.40 am: Uttarakhand: Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat queues up to vote for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 in Devalchaur, Haldwani.
8.35 am: Manipur: Voting underway at a polling station in Imphal, in Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency.
8.30 am: Uttarakhand: Former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank casts his vote at a polling booth in Dehradun.
8.30 am: Andhra Pradesh: TDP MP candidate from Vijaywada, Kesineni Srinivas castes his vote at a polling booth in St. Joseph Girl’s High School, Gunadala, Vijaywada.
8.20 am: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his family after casting their vote for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 in Amravati.
8.15 am: Baghpat: Flower petals being showered and dhol being played to welcome voters at polling booth number 126 in Baraut.
8.10 am: Andhra Pradesh: People queue up at a polling booth in Amaravati to cast their vote for Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
8.00 am: Maharashtra: Voting underway at a polling booth in Allapalli village, in Gadchiroli Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
7.45 am: Jammu & Kashmir: Voters queue up to cast their vote for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 at polling booths 15 and 16 in Gandhi Nagar, Jammu.
7.40 am: Andhra Pradesh: Visuals from a polling booth in Vishapkhapatnam as voting begins for Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
7.30 am: PM Narendra Modi: Lok Sabha Elections 2019 commence today. I call upon all those whose constituencies are voting in the first phase today to turn out in record numbers and exercise their franchise. I specially urge young and first-time voters to vote in large numbers.
7.25 am: Maharashtra: RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat present at polling booth number 216 in Nagpur, to cast his vote for Lok Sabha Elections2019.
7.20 am: Andhra Pradesh: Voters queue outside polling booth no 134 in Pulivendula, ahead of voting for the first phase Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
7.15 am: Assam: Voters begin to arrive at polling booths 156 and 158 in Dibrugarh ahead of the voting for the first phase Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Voting on 5 parliamentary constituencies in the state will be held today.
