LS polls LIVE | Phase 2 records 60% voter turnout; Tripura highest at 77.53%
Voter turnout till 1 pm
Assam 46.31%
Bihar 33.80%
Chhattisgarh 53.09%
Jammu And Kashmir 42.88%
Karnataka 38.23%
Kerala 39.26%
Madhya Pradesh 38.96%
Maharashtra 31.77%
Manipur 54.26%
Rajasthan 40.39%
Tripura 54.47%
Uttar Pradesh 35.73%
West Bengal 47.29%
Village in Maharashtra decides to boycott LS polls over issue of encroachments
Residents of a village in the Parbhani Lok Sabha constituency decided to boycott the elections on Friday to protest against the issue of encroachments, prompting the collector to visit the place and appeal to them.
Polling in Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani constituencies in Marathwada began on Friday morning.
Parbhani Collector and returning officer Raghunath Gawde arrived at Balsa Khurd village, located around 7 km from Parbhani city, and interacted with villagers, urging them to vote.
The village, which has 1,200 voters, boycotted the elections over the longstanding issue of encroachments.
The collector held a meeting with villagers, who sought assurance from the administration that the problem would be solved.
"We will hold a meeting on the encroachment issue once the election code of conduct is lifted, and the problem will be addressed in a month," Gawde said.
Villagers will exercise their franchise if the administration gives a written assurance about resolving the issue, a resident of the village said.
Google Doodle marks second phase of Lok Sabha polls with voting symbol
Google marked the second phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with a colourful doodle on its homepage on Friday celebrating the inked index finger, which signals that a person has voted.
Elections are being held across 88 seats in 13 states and Union Territories.
The Google Doodle by the American tech giant shows an index finger marked with indelible ink replacing the 'O' in the logo spelling out its name. The indelible purple ink is generally applied on the left-hand index finger of a voter to prevent duplication of voting. It has come to be recognised as a symbol of pride among voters who have participated in the election process.
It is a common scene to see voters clicking photos outside polling booths, showing the 'inked' finger.
Clicking on the doodle leads to Google's search page, showing latest updates and news stories on the elections.
Google had put the same doodle on April 19 to mark the first phase of the Lok Sabha Elections.
38.96% polling in six seats in MP till 1 pm
About 38.96 per cent of voters cast their ballots till 1 am in six Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh in the second phase of general elections on Friday, an official said.
The polling began at 7 am and is going on peacefully in all the six Lok Sabha seats, the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan told PTI.
Till 1 pm, Damoh had recorded a voter turnout of 37.57 per cent, Hoshangabad 45.71, Khajuraho 37.89, Rewa 31.85, Satna 40.83 and Tikamgarh 40.21, the official said.
Union minister Prahlad Patel voted in the Damoh Lok Sabha seat, which he represented in 2019, while Union minister and sitting MP Virendra Kumar and his wife exercised their franchise in Tikamgarh.
UP records over 35% voting in 8 constituencies till 1 pm
A voter turnout of 35.73 per cent was recorded till 1 pm in the eight parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh in phase two of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday, according to officials.
The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.
Voting in Uttar Pradesh in the second phase is underway in Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh and Mathura constituencies.
Election Commission (EC) officials said 40.67 per cent votes were polled in Amroha, 38.33 per cent in Meerut, 34.17 per cent in Baghpat, 33.99 per cent in Ghaziabad, 36.05 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 35.35 in Bulandshahr, 35.55 per cent in Aligarh and 32.70 in Mathura till 11 am.
There are more than 1.67 crore voters, 7,797 polling stations and 17,704 polling booths in these eight Lok Sabha constituencies.
Over 26% polling in Jammu LS seat in first 4 hours
More than 26 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling in Jammu constituency in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday, officials said.
Voting began at 7 am in the 2,416 polling stations in the constituency and is going on peacefully, Jammu and Kashmir election officials said.
They added that 26.61 per cent votes were polled till 11 am. There are more than 17.80 lakh eligible voters in the constituency.
Electors are casting their votes to decide the fate of 22 candidates, including sitting MP Jugal Kishore Sharma, who is eyeing a third term after winning the seat for the BJP in 2014 and 2019. The INDIA bloc has fielded Jammu and Kashmir Congress working president Raman Bhalla.
The Lok Sabha poll is the first major electoral battle in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh -- on August 5, 2019.
The highest voter turnout (33.79 per cent) was recorded in Jammu Lok Sabha constituency's Reasi assembly segment till 11 am, the officials said.
Jammu recorded a voter turnout of 74 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.