Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Phase 1, Voting In 21 States Today

Voting for the first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections began on April 19 in 102 constituencies across 17 states and four Union Territories. The BJP is aiming to win 370 of 543 Lok Sabha seats, a steep rise from its score of 2019. The Prime Minister has set the NDA a target of 400.

The first phase of polls is being held on all seats of Tamil Nadu (39), Rajasthan (12), Uttar Pradesh (8), Madhya Pradesh (6), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1). Besides, there will be five seats each in Assam and Maharashtra, four in Bihar, three in West Bengal, two in Manipur, and one each in Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chhattisgarh. Four states -- Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh -- will also pick new assemblies alongside this Lok Sabha election. Of these, Arunachal Pradesh (60 seats) and Sikkim (32) are first down today.

The BJP is hoping to win 22 of the 25 seats in the northeast - an area it now dominates -- sweep the huge swathe of the Hindi heartland, Jammu in the north and Gujarat in the west. In Bengal, it is hoping to flourish at the cost of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and make further inroads in Odisha, even though the proposed alliance with Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal fell through.

Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers, one former governor and several key leaders are in the fray today, making for scintillating contests in more than 20 seats. Among them are Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Jitendra Singh, Kiren Rijiju, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Sanjiv Balyan, former Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Congress's Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and former Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal.