Voting begins in India’s Lok Sabha election

Voting for the first phase of the 18th Lok Sabha elections in India, the world's largest democratic country, has begun.

The voting started at 7 am local time on Friday (April 19). It will continue till 6 pm, reports ndtv.

In the elections, there will be 1.5 million polling stations. The total number of voters is 97crore. Of them, 1.85crore voters will cast their votes for the first time.

BJP nominated candidates for 430 seats in this year's Lok Sabha elections while the Congress nominated the lowest number of candidates in the history. The number of Congress candidates is 303.

In the first phase of polls, as many as 17 states and 102 constituencies will cast their votes to elect the next set of MPs across the country. The second phase of voting will begin on April 26.