Highlights of Lok Sabha Phase 1 elections | Fusion - WeRIndia

The first phase of Lok Sabha elections started yesterday. More than 14 crore voters in 91 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 18 States and two Union Territories exercised their vote in this phase.

Here are the highlights of Phase 1 2019 Lok Sabha elections:

• The first phase constituencies include 25 in Andhra Pradesh, 17 in Telangana, five in Uttarakhand, two in each Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. And the lone seats in Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep are also part of this.
• In addition to that, eight seats in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Maharashtra, five in Assam, four each in Bihar and Odisha, two each in Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal, and one seat in Chhattisgarh are also part of this phase.
• More than 50 per cent of polling was seen in all states in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections.
• Bihar saw the lowest voter turnout of 50 per cent. West Bengal topped with 81 per cent.
• Violence, deaths, vandalism and EVM malfunctioning marred these elections to some extent.
• In Andhra Pradesh, voting continued till the midnight in some polling stations.
• The elections officers allowed all the people who are in the queue by 6:00 p.m. to vote.
• The Chief Election Officer of Andhra Pradesh said that 362 Electronic Voting Machines were malfunctioning.
• IED blasts were reported from Maharashtra and the northeast. Yet, no casualty has been reported. Voting was sluggish in the morning, but it spurred by the evening.
• Zero per cent polling was recorded in some Maoist-hit areas like Malkangiri district, Odisha. Villagers boycotted elections in some places due to their local demands.
• BSF personnel fired in the air at a polling booth in Kairana, western Uttar Pradesh. Here, some people forcibly tried to enter the premises to cast their vote without identity cards.
• EVM glitches were reported in some polling stations.
• Some people’s votes have been deleted without their notice. Businesswoman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw’s mother is one among them. Her name was deleted from the list of voters.
• Some people reported that the Congress button was not working during polling in Jammu’s Poonch area.

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