Lok Sabha elections to begin Friday

Lok Sabha elections are set to kick off on Friday (April 19) in India, one of the greatest democratic countries in the world.

The Lok Sabha elections are going to begin with polling in 102 constituencies across 21 states, with 16.63 crore eligible voters, on Friday morning, lakhs of polling personnel made their way to their stations on Thursday, reports The Indian Express.

From polling parties travelling by ship and boat to reach Lakshadweep’s Kiltan Island to officials trekking to reach remote booths in Arunachal Pradesh’ Siang district, the Election Commission said it was ready for the polls to open at 7 am on Friday.

As many as 18 lakh polling personnel will work at 1.87 lakh polling stations.

The commission, comprising Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, “gave final touches to poll preparations today (Thursday) at 12 noon for a smooth run of phase one,” it said in a statement.

In a video released on Thursday, the chief election commissioner appealed to voters to participate in the polls. Referring to the warning about heatwaves during the seven-phase elections, he said, “There is talk about summer heat, it is true. You, and we, should take all the precautions, but I know the spirit of the Indian voter will beat the summer heat.”

Apart from the 102 Lok Sabha seats, Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will also be held on Friday. Among the states that will have polling in phase one are Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Of the total 16.63 crore voters in phase one, there are 8.4 crore male, 8.23 crore female and 11,371 transgender voters. Over 35 lakh first-time electors are also eligible to cast their votes. As many as 1,625 candidates (1,491 male and 134 female) are in the fray, as per the commission.

In order to ensure the smooth movement of security forces, the Election Commission said that 41 helicopters, 84 special trains and nearly lakh other vehicles had been deployed. Over 50 per cent of the polling stations will have webcasting, that is live-streaming of the proceedings for authorities to watch.

The poll panel said that its observers—127 general observers, 67 police observers and 167 expenditure observers—had already reached the constituencies to serve as its eyes and ears on the ground.