Phase 1 polls in 102 seats across 21 states today

New Delhi: Thestage is set for the high-decibel Lok Sabha elections to elect the 18th Lok Sabha which will commence on Friday over seven phases. On Friday, voting will take place for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states. A total of 16.63 crore voters will vote in 1.87 lakh polling stations.

The key political exercise will trigger a high-voltage poll battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition’s INDIA or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

The voting in phase 1, which has the highest number of constituencies up for grabs, will begin at 7 am and end at 5 pm.

In the high-stakes first phase — Tamil Nadu (39 seats) and Uttarakhand (5 seats) are two states where voting will be completed on Friday. The first phase also includes 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 each in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and 1 seat each in Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

Among the key faces going to polls in the first phase are eight Union Ministers – Nitin Gadkari, Kiren Rijiju, Sarbanada Sonowal, Sanjeev Baliyan, Jitendra Singh, Bhupendra Yadav, Arjun Ram Meghwal and L Murugan, two former chief ministers – Biplab Kumar Deb (Tripura) and Nabam Tuki (Arunachal Pradesh), and former Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan (Telangana).

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-led UPA won 45 of these 102 seats and the NDA 41. Six of these seats have been redrawn as part of the delimitation exercise.

In Tamil Nadu, BJP’s state president K Annamalai is contesting from Coimbatore, Tamilisai Soundararajan from Chennai South, and Union Minister L Murugan from Nilgiris. Murugan is facing former telecom minister and DMK leader A Raja. DMK’s Kanimozhi is contesting from Thoothukkudi.

West Bengal’s three seats going to polls in phase 1 are Alipurduar, Coochbehar, and Jalpaiguri. The BJP won all three seats, which falls in North Bengal, in 2019.

In Maharashtra, the high-profile Nagpur seat is expected to witness a two-way contest between BJP’s Nitin Gadkari and Congress leader Vikas Thakre.

Of 8 seats going to polls in Uttar Pradesh, eyes will be on Rampur and Pilibhit. Rampur is the stronghold of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan, however, this time around, SP has fielded Mohibullah Nadvi, while BJP has replaced Varun Gandhi with Jitin Prasada in Pilibhit.