21 states, UTs set for polling in phase one; 102 LS seats in fray

New Delhi: The first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will see 102 constituencies across 21 states and union territories go to polls on Friday. The first phase of polling will take place across all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, all five seats in Uttarakhand, both seats in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Meghalaya, and the sole seat in Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim, respectively.

Polling will also take place for 12 out of 25 seats in Rajasthan, eight out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, six out of 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, five out of 48 seats in Maharashtra, five out of 14 seats in Assam, and four out of 40 seats in Bihar.

Additionally, three out of 42 seats in West Bengal, one out of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh, and one out of two seats in Tripura will be contested.

In the union territories, one out of five seats in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the sole seats in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry, will be up for grabs.

Voting for the 543 Lok Sabha seats will take place across seven phases from April 19 to June 1, with the counting of votes slated for June 4.

Separately, voting will also be held for 92 assembly seats in the state elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim on Friday.

Of the 102 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP had won 39 in 2019, with the ruling alliance NDA bagging 12, five and three of them in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, respectively. The BJP’s existing allies hold seven of them.

And in Tamil Nadu, the DMK-led alliance had swept 38 of the 39 seats in 2019 general elections.

Amongst the prominent leaders trying their electoral luck in phase one are Union ministers Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur, Kiren Rijiju from Arunachal Pradesh (West), Arjun Ram Meghwal from Bikaner, Sarbanada Sonowal from Dibrugarh in Assam, Sanjeev Baliyan from Muzaffarnagar in western UP, Jitendra Singh from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir and Bhupendra Yadav from Alwar in Rajasthan.