First phase polls: Polling begins on moderate note

Polling in the first phase of elections to Lok Sabha began on a moderate note today during which the fate of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha and TRS president K Chandrasekar Rao will be decided.

Voting began this morning in 124 constituencies spread across 15 states and two union territories in the first round of the five-phase elections and would end at 1700 hrs in most places, except in naxal-infested areas where it would close at 1500 hrs.

Over 14.31 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballot today across 1.85 lakh polling stations set up by the Election Commission and secured by tens of thousands of police personnel.

Elections to 154 Assembly segments in Andhra Pradesh and 70 in Orissa are also being held today.

While all 20 seats in Kerala, 11 in Chhattisgarh and two each in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya are going to polls in a single phase today, polling is being held in 13 out of 40 seats in Bihar, 16 out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra 13 (48), Andhra Pradesh 22 (42), Jharkhand 6 (14), Orissa 10 (21), Assam 3 (14), Manipur 1 (2) and Jammu and Kashmir 1 (6).

The lone seats in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Mizoram and Nagaland are also covered in the first phase.