Editor's Pick | Voters brave heatwave, first phase records 62.37% turnout

A voter turnout of 62.37% was recorded in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election on Friday, which sealed the fate of candidates in 102 constituencies across 21 States and Union Territories. The voting percentage is likely to go up when reports from all polling stations are obtained, the Election Commission (EC) said in a statement. The poll body also commended the “high” voter turnout “despite the heatwave”. The poll percentage was 69.4 in the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Polling has been completed for 10 States and Union Territories in this phase, including Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep, and most northeastern States. Prominent leaders such as Nitin Gadkari, Kanimozhi, Gaurav Gogoi, and Bhupendra Yadav were among the contestants in this phase. The seven-phase polls will end on June 1 and counting will take place on June 4. Among the States where the polling took place, incidents of violence were reported from Manipur, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh. Lakshadweep saw the highest voter turnout at 83.88% and Bihar the lowest of 48.88%, as per provisional EC data at 11.30 p.m. Tamil Nadu, where voting took place for all 39 Lok Sabha seats, saw a turnout of 69.46%. In an editorial, The Hindu noted that the campaign in Tamil Nadu was preceded by the most ambitious push by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to make a political entry. “The BJP hopes to find a foothold in Tamil Nadu, where the Dravidian parties are faced with challenges of various types.” The charismatic leaders of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi, respectively, passed away in the last decade and the BJP has found a strident leader in K. Annamalai, a former police officer, it noted. “Tactically, the BJP needs to pick some seats in newer regions considering that it has peaked in its strongholds in the Hindi belt, and can grow no further...The extent of the BJP’s advances will be known only when the votes are counted, but campaigning in the first phase has given out enough signals about the seriousness of its southern project. In ethnic violence-hit Manipur, the voter turnout was 72.17%. It was 76.05% in the Inner Manipur seat and 65.22% in the Outer Manipur seat. Violence was reported in areas under the Inner Manipur seat straddling the Meitei-majority Imphal Valley. Unidentified armed men fired several rounds outside a polling station at Thamnapokpi in Bishnupur district, reportedly injuring three persons. No violence was reported from the Outer Manipur seat reserved for the Scheduled Tribes. Very few people from the Kuki community came out to vote. Kuki politicians had decided not to contest the polls. The BJP had won the remaining Arunachal Pradesh seats unopposed on March 30. The crucial eight seats of western Uttar Pradesh saw a voting percentage of 60.25. The Samajwadi Party and the ruling BJP traded barbs over bogus voting. Polling in five constituencies in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region concluded peacefully without any major untoward incident. The voter turnout averaged 61.87%. Of the 102 seats going to the polls on Friday, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance had won 43 seats, and parties in the INDIA bloc 48 seats in the 2019 election. At least 60,000 State and paramilitary personnel were deployed across Naxal-infested Bastar where a CRPF jawan was killed when a shell of an under-barrel grenade launcher accidentally exploded in Galgam village in Bijapur district while his team was on an area domination exercise. Another CRPF personnel was injured when he came in contact with an IED laid by Naxals in the same district. Elections were also held for 50 of the 60 Assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh and 32 in Sikkim. The Hindu’s Editorials First step: on the general election, the BJP’s southern push Permanent status: on Palestine and the UN The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz As India started voting on Friday, all of Tamil Nadu’s seats went to polls in the first phase. How many seats does the State have in the lower house of the Parliament? 40 35 37 39 To know the answer and to play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 20 April 2024 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]Open in browser [Mail icon]More newsletters Voters brave heatwave, first phase records 62.37% turnout A voter turnout of 62.37% was recorded in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election on Friday, which sealed the fate of candidates in 102 constituencies across 21 States and Union Territories. The voting percentage is likely to go up when reports from all polling stations are obtained, the Election Commission (EC) said in a statement. The poll body also commended the “high” voter turnout [“despite the heatwave”](. The poll percentage was 69.4 in the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Polling has been completed for 10 States and Union Territories in this phase, including Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep, and most northeastern States. Prominent leaders such as Nitin Gadkari, Kanimozhi, Gaurav Gogoi, and Bhupendra Yadav were among the contestants in this phase. The seven-phase polls will end on June 1 and counting will take place on June 4. Among the States where the polling took place, incidents of violence were reported from Manipur, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh. Lakshadweep saw the highest voter turnout at 83.88% and Bihar the lowest of 48.88%, as per provisional EC data at 11.30 p.m. Tamil Nadu, where voting took place for all 39 Lok Sabha seats, [saw a turnout of 69.46%.]( In an editorial, The Hindu noted that the campaign in Tamil Nadu was preceded by the [most ambitious push]( by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to make a political entry. “The BJP hopes to find a foothold in Tamil Nadu, where the Dravidian parties are faced with challenges of various types.” The charismatic leaders of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi, respectively, passed away in the last decade and the BJP has found a strident leader in K. Annamalai, a former police officer, it noted. “Tactically, the BJP needs to pick some seats in newer regions considering that it has peaked in its strongholds in the Hindi belt, and can grow no further...The extent of the BJP’s advances will be known only when the votes are counted, but campaigning in the first phase has given out enough signals about the seriousness of its southern project. In ethnic violence-hit Manipur, the voter turnout was 72.17%. It was 76.05% in the Inner Manipur seat and 65.22% in the Outer Manipur seat. [Violence was reported]( areas under the Inner Manipur seat straddling the Meitei-majority Imphal Valley. Unidentified armed men fired several rounds outside a polling station at Thamnapokpi in Bishnupur district, reportedly injuring three persons. No violence was reported from the Outer Manipur seat reserved for the Scheduled Tribes. Very few people from the Kuki community came out to vote. Kuki politicians had decided not to contest the polls. The BJP had won the remaining Arunachal Pradesh seats unopposed on March 30. The crucial eight seats of western Uttar Pradesh saw a voting percentage of 60.25. The Samajwadi Party and the ruling BJP traded barbs over bogus voting. Polling in five constituencies in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region concluded peacefully without any major untoward incident. The voter turnout averaged 61.87%. Of the 102 seats going to the polls on Friday, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance had won 43 seats, and parties in the INDIA bloc 48 seats in the 2019 election. At least 60,000 State and paramilitary personnel were deployed across Naxal-infested Bastar where a CRPF jawan was killed when a shell of an under-barrel grenade launcher accidentally exploded in Galgam village in Bijapur district while his team was on an area domination exercise. Another CRPF personnel was injured when he came in contact with an IED laid by Naxals in the same district. Elections were also held for 50 of the 60 Assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh and 32 in Sikkim. The Hindu’s Editorials [Arrow][First step: on the general election, the BJP’s southern push Â]( [Arrow][Permanent status: on Palestine and the UN]( The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz As India started voting on Friday, all of Tamil Nadu’s seats went to polls in the first phase. 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