Lok Sabha elections phase I: Voters out to decide fate of 91 parliament

The worlds largest democratic exercise began on Thursday with crores of people coming out to vote to elect 91 parliamentarians in the first phase of overamonthlong Lok Sabha polls for which the Modi government has made nationalism its core pitch to retain power amid a fragmented challenge from the Congress and a number of regional playersElection officials said voter turnout was high at most places while pollrelated violence saw death of two persons in Andhra Pradesh and complaints poured in from various states about glitches in EVMs and of names missing from listsA polling official carries VVPAT machines to load data of symbols at a distribution point ahead of the second phase of the election in ChennaiThe 91 Lok Sabha constituencies in the first phase spread across 18 states and two union territories have more than 14 crore voters about onesixth of the nearly 90 crore total electorate in India Votes for all 543 seats will be counted on May 23 after the sevenphase polling ends on May 19 An estimated 15 crore young voters in the age group of 1819 years would vote for the first time across the seven phasesIn the first phase the BJP is looking to defend 32 seats including those being fought by senior party leader Nitin Gadkari and five other Union ministers The main Opposition party Congress is hoping to defend seven seats it won in 2014 besides eyeing gains in Andhra Pradesh Maharashtra Chhattisgarh Uttarakhand and Uttar PradeshTwo Andhra party workers killed in clashTwo party workers including one belonging to the ruling TDP were killed in a clash while technical problems in EVMs hampered the poll process in some booths in Andhra Pradesh State Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi said there were some glitches in the functioning of 381 EVMs which were rectified subsequently Police said a TDP worker and another belonging YSR Congress were killed in the clash in Anantapuramu district The clash occurred at Veerapuram village The deceased have been identified as Pulla Reddy of YSR Congress and Sidda Bhaskar Reddy of the TDP police sources said107yrold becomes Sikkims oldest voterSumitra Rai a 107yearold woman became Sikkims oldest voter to exercise franchise in the polls She came on a wheelchair to the Kamrang Government Secondary School booth in the Poklok Kamrang constituency to cast her vote Her photographs were shared by the official Twitter account of the Sikkim office of Press Information Bureau the publicity arm of the IampB MinistryBSF men fire in air to control voters without ID cards BSF personnel fired in the air at a polling booth as some people who were not carrying their identity cards tried to forcibly enter the premises to cast their votes police said The incident took place at a polling booth in Rasoolpur Gujran village under Kandhla police station they said Some people who had turned up without their ID cards tried to enter the polling booth forcibly Pushing and shoving ensued when the presiding officer tried to stop them said a police officerNamo food packets trigger row in NoidaSome security personnel on election duty in Noida were served meals in packets labelled Namo Foods triggering criticism from the Opposition even after the local police said the packs only displayed the name of the shop The BSP said it has complained to the Election Commission NaMo are widelyrecognised Hindi initials of PM Narendra Modi previously seen on BJP merchandise and recently as the name of a TV channelParties slug it outAmit ShahBJP presidentIt is our commitment to bring in NRC across the country to chuck out each and every infiltrator Unlike Mamata Banerjee we dont treat infiltrators as our vote bank For us national security is supremeNarendra Modiprime ministerWe say we will trace out and demolish terror hideouts in JampK and put those who are funded by Pakistan to carry out terrorist activities behind bars The Congress and its allies say they will hold talks Can those singing the tunes of Pakistan speaking its language and thriving on its finances be trusted with talksRahul GandhiCongress presidentToday the Grand Festival of Democracy has started The country does not have to be trapped in new tricks and has to follow the path to progress We have to take India to new heights We have to save it from lies cheating and jumlasCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates