Indian Polls

Dehradun, Apr 11 (PTI) Over 57 per cent of the electorate in Uttarakhand cast their vote Thursday to seal the fate of 52 candidates as polling was held in the first phase of the general elections to its five Lok Sabha seats.

The turnout recorded at 5 pm across the five seats was 57.85 per cent, Chief Electoral Officer Soujanya said.

Alipurduar/Kolkata, Apr 11 (PTI) An estimated of 80.85 per cent of 34.52 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the two Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal where polling was held in the first phase on Thursday, officials said.

"Today we had a peaceful polling in the two constituencies of Coochbehar and Alipurduar. However, There have been some isolated incidents," Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab said.

Pithoragarh, Apr 11 (PTI) Over 828 voters of Bacham, the village adopted by Rajya Sabha MP and Congress candidate from Almora parliamentary constituency Pradeep Tamta, boycotted polling as the seat along with four others went to polls in the first phase of the general elections on Thursday.

The village in Kapkot Assembly constituency of Bageswar district boycotted the election, citing neglect in development schemes by the state government.

Mumbai, Apr 11 (PTI) Maharashtra registered 55.97 per cent voting till 5.30 pm across seven constituencies in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections Thursday, officials said.

Final figures will be announced Friday as polling was on till 8 pm in some centres, said an election official.

Lucknow, Apr 11 (PTI) Over 24 per cent polling has been recorded till 11 am in the eight Lok Sabha seats of western Uttar Pradesh on Thursday in the first leg of the seven-phased general elections.

Three Union ministers-- V K Singh (Ghaziabad), Satyapal Singh (Baghpat) and Mahesh Sharma (Gautam Buddha Nagar) are in the fray in this phase.

Lucknow, April 9 (PTI): Campaigning ended Tuesday evening in eight western Uttar Pradesh constituencies where the ruling BJP is going all out to repeat its 2014 Lok Sabha performance, a task made much tougher this time by the new SP-BSP-RLD alliance.

In the 2014 parliamentary elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party won all eight seats -- Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar that go to the polls on April 11, the first phase of staggered elections.

Amethi (UP), Apr 10 (PTI) With UPA president Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra by his side, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday filed his nomination papers for the Amethi Lok Sabha seat at the Collectorate here.

Rahul was also accompanied by Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra and their two children to send a message that the entire family gives much importance to the Congress bastion, party leaders said.

New Delhi, Apr 8 (PTI) The CPI on Monday said the BJP manifesto was a list of new 'jumlas' to conceal the betrayal and the broken promises made to the people in the last five years.

CPI national secretary D Raja said the BJP's manifesto confirms the saffron party is nothing but a political tool of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh whose ideology is "divisive, sectarian, communal and fascist."

New Delhi, Apr 8 (PTI) Calling the BJP's manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls a "vision document", head of the party's manifesto committee Rajnath Singh on Monday said the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was fully committed on nationalism and zero tolerance towards terrorism.

The BJP manifesto was released by Modi on Monday in the presence of the party's top brass.

"Our 'Sankalp Patra' is a vision document that lists the expectations of 130 crore Indians," Singh said.

Patna, Apr 8 (PTI) The RJD on Monday released its manifesto, titled 'Pratibadhta Patra', promising reservation for SCs, STs, EBC and OBCs in proportion of their population in the private sector and the higher judiciary.

The ceiling - a 50 per cent cap - had been broken after giving 10 per cent quota to the weaker sections among the general category so the people belonging to these categories (SCs, STs, EBC and OBCs) should be given reservation on the basis of their population, party leader Tejashwi Yadav said while releasing the manifesto here.