LS polls LIVE | Phase 2 records 60% voter turnout; Tripura highest at 77.53%
EVM glitches, bogus voting reported in Kerala and Bengal; voters in a few villages in UP's Mathura, Rajasthan's Banswara and Maharashtra's Parbhani boycott polls
A voter turnout of over 60 per cent was recorded till 6 pm on Friday (April 26) in the second phase of polling across 88 Lok Sabha seats in 13 states and Union territories. Tripura logged the highest voting percentage at 77.53 per cent while Uttar Pradesh recorded the lowest at 52.74 per cent. The polling percentage is expected to go up in the final tally.
Manipur recorded the second-highest voter turnout at 76.06 per cent followed by West Bengal (71.84 per cent) and Assam (70.66 per cent).
Kerala, which went for single phase polls on Friday had a polling percentage of 70 per cent.
Fourteen Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka recorded a voter turnout of 63.9 percent, with Mandya recording the highest (74 percent) and Bangalore Central the lowest (49 percent). Bengaluru once again recorded low turnout across constituencies.
The polling percentage recorded in the rest of the states were – Bihar (53.03 per cent), Chhattisgarh (72.13 per cent), Jammu and Kashmir (67.22 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (54.83 per cent), Maharashtra (53.51 per cent), and Rajasthan (59.19 per cent).
While complaints of EVM glitches and bogus voting were received from some booths in Kerala and West Bengal, voters in a few villages in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura, Rajasthan's Banswara and Maharashtra's Parbhani boycotted polls over various issues.
Polling for the second stage of the seven-phase elections started at 7 am and stretched beyond the stipulated 6 pm in several states where long queues were witnessed post dusk. Intense heat wave condition prevented many voters from visiting the polling booths in the day.
Till 3 pm, Tripura recorded the highest polling percentage (68.92 per cent) while the lowest turnout was in Maharashtra at 43.01 per cent.
“Aggregate turnout at 3 pm in Phase 2 is 50.25 per cent," the Election Commission said in a statement.
Polling was held in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and actor-turned-politician Arun Govil, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's brother DK Suresh (Cong), and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy (JDS) are among the key candidates while BJP's Hema Malini, Om Birla and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat seeking a hat-trick of wins from their respective constituencies.
Stressing on the importance of each vote, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi issued impassioned appeals asking people to step out and exercise their franchise in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election.
3 dead in Kerala
In Kerala, the turnout was 51.64 per cent. As the day progressed, people continued to queue up in increasing numbers outside the over 25,000 polling booths in the state to cast their vote.
The election process, held amid tight security arrangements, was primarily incident free except for instances of bogus voting and breakdowns of electronic voting machines (EVMs) being reported in some booths of the state. Such incidents resulted in delaying the polling process in the affected booths.
One person each reportedly died at Palakkad, Alappuzha and Malappuram after casting their vote and a polling agent died after collapsing at a booth in Kozhikode.
In Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency, recorded a turnout of 68.92 per cent till 3 pm. Election officials said there were some complaints from a few booths but those were "promptly addressed".
A jawan of the Madhya Pradesh Special Armed Force deployed on poll duty allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle at a government school where he was stationed in Gariaband district under the Mahasamund seat in Chhattisgarh, where a voter turnout of 63.92 per cent was recorded till 3 pm.
Newly-weds come to cast ballots
A polling booth at Sivni village in Balod district (Kanker seat) was decorated like a wedding 'mandap', with a display of rituals of traditional weddings. Several brides and grooms, dressed in their wedding finery, cast their votes at several polling booths. In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, there was a turnout of 46.68 per cent till 3 pm.
An estimated 60.32 per cent of the 77,26,668 voters exercised their franchise till 3 pm in the five parliamentary constituencies of Assam. In restive Manipur, where polling is being held under high presence of security personnel, the turnout was a high 68.48 per cent.
Out of 14 segments that are going to polls in Karnataka, the highest turnout of 58.76 per cent was recorded in Dakshina Kannada, followed by Udupi-Chikmagalur at 57.49 per cent. The least was 40.10 percent in Bangalore Central. The turnout was 40.77 per cent in Bangalore South and 41.12 per cent in Bangalore North.
Free food for those with inked fingers
Various restaurants in Bangalore were offering free dosas, laddu, coffee and other food items at discounted rates to customers who cast their vote. Till 3 pm, the voting percentage in Karnataka was 50.93.
A private hospital assisted 41 inpatients cast their vote with the help of city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Green corridors were created for the ambulances across constituencies to ensure easy, hassle-free voting.
A voter turnout of 43.01 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in eight constituencies in Maharashtra, while in Rajasthan, the turnout was 50.27 per cent. Incidents of confrontation between the supporters of the Congress candidate and an independent candidate were reported at a couple of places during polling in Barmer-Jaisalmer Lok Sabha constituency of Rajasthan.
Police said they were looking into the complaints besides some about fake voting from some places.
A voter turnout of 44.13 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in the eight parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh. Senior citizens dominated the early hours of voting in Noida in the Gautam Buddh Nagar constituency. Some residents' welfare associations made arrangements for electric vehicles to ferry voters to and from the polling booths.
In Bihar, the turnout was 44.24 per cent, 60.60 per cent in in West Bengal and 57.76 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir.
After Friday's phase, polling will be over in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura. In the first phase on April 19, polling was completed in all seats of Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1).
The third phase of elections for 94 seats across 12 states and Union territories will be held on May 7. Counting will be done on June 4.
Live Updates
- 26 April 2024 5:30 PM IST
Tripura East registers 69.48% voter turnout till 3 pm
The Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency recorded a voter turnout of 69.48 per cent till 3 pm on Friday, as polling remained peaceful so far, an official said.
Voters came out in large numbers to exercise their democratic right since morning, Additional Chief Electoral Officer S Bandopadhyay said.
The poll percentage was 54.98 till 1 pm, he said.
"Long queues were seen in almost all the booths till the last reports came in. Tribals, too, took part in voting in the interior areas amid tight security... The polling remained largely free, fair and peaceful,” Bandopadhyay said.
He said the Election Commission had received some complaints from a few booths, but those were "promptly addressed".
Nearly 14 lakh voters in the constituency, including 6.94 lakh women and 13 persons of third gender, will decide the fate of nine candidates in the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls.
- 26 April 2024 5:14 PM IST
60.32% voter turnout till 3 pm in 5 LS seats of Assam
An estimated 60.32 per cent of 77,26,668 voters exercised their franchise till 3 pm in the five parliamentary constituencies of Assam, where polling is underway in the second phase on Friday, election officials said.
The highest polling of 64.43 per cent was recorded in Darrang-Udalguri, closely followed by 60.74 per cent in Diphu (ST), 60.56 per cent in Nagaon, 60.36 per cent in Karimganj and 53.06 per cent in Silchar, they said.
Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm.
The prominent candidates who exercised their franchise are Assam Minister for Excise, Transport and Fisheries Parimal Suklabaidya and his Congress rival Surya Kanta Sarkar in Silchar (SC), Congress candidate Joyram Engleng in Diphu (ST) and sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi in Nagaon.
Altogether 77,26,668 voters, including 38,61,559 women and 179 persons of third gender, are likely to exercise their franchise in 9,133 polling stations.
Sixty-one candidates are in the fray in this phase.
- 26 April 2024 4:55 PM IST
Maharashtra records 43% polling till 3 pm
A voter turnout of 43.01 percent was recorded till 3 pm in eight constituencies in Maharashtra in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday, officials said.
Voting started at 7 am in Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha and Yavatmal-Washim seats in Vidarbha (eastern Maharashtra) and Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani constituencies in the central Marathwada region, and will end at 6 pm.
Wardha recorded 45.95 percent turnout, Akola 42.69 percent, Amravati 43.76 percent, Buldhana 41.66 percent, Hingoli 40.5 percent, Nanded 42.42 percent, Parbhani 44.49 percent and Yavatmal-Washim 42.55 percent, election officials said.
Former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who recently switched over from the Congress to the BJP, voted along with his family members in the initial hours in Nanded.
As many as 1.49 crore voters (77,21,374 men, 72,04,106 women and 432 persons from third gender category) are eligible to cast ballots across 16,589 polling centres.
There are a total of 204 candidates in the fray -- 21 in Buldhana, 15 in Akola, 37 in Amravati, 24 in Wardha, 17 in Yavatmal-Washim, 33 in Hingoli, 23 in Nanded and 34 in Parbhani.
On April 19, five seats in eastern Vidarbha – Nagpur, Ramtek, Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondia and Gadchiroli-Chimur – went to polls, registering a voter turnout of 63.70 per cent.
Buldhana, Yavatmal-Washim and Hingoli are seeing a direct contest between the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT).
The undivided Shiv Sena contested the last general elections in the state in alliance with the BJP. It split in 2022 after Shinde led a rebellion, toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and joined hands with the BJP to become the CM.
In Buldhana, sitting Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav is pitted against Narendra Khedekar of Sena (UBT).
The Shiv Sena has nominated Rajashri Patil in Yavatmal-Washim, dropping sitting MP Bhavana Gawli. Patil is pitted against Sanjay Deshmukh of the Thackeray-led party.
In Hingoli, Rajashtri Patil's husband and sitting MP Hemant Patil was replaced by the Shiv Sena, which gave the ticket to Baburao Kohalikar. The Sena nominee is contesting against Nagesh Patil Ashtikar of Sena (UBT).
In Parbhani, Mahadev Jankar of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha is contesting against MP Sanjay Jadhav, nominated by the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Jankar has been backed by the ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising BJP, Shiv Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
Dr B R Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar, who heads the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), has fielded candidates in seven seats, including himself from Akola. His brother Anandraj Ambedkar is in the fray in Amravati as a Republican Sena nominee.
In Akola, the contest is between Anup Dhotre of BJP and Abhay Patil of Congress, with Prakash Ambedkar as the third candidate.
Amravati is seeing a battle between MP Navneet Rana, now contesting as a BJP nominee, against Balwant Wankhede of Congress. Dinesh Bub is the Prahar Janshakti Party candidate. The Prahar party, which has two legislators in the assembly, is an ally of the ruling coalition.
In Wardha, there is a fight between former Congress MLA Amar Kale, contesting on the symbol of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) – “a man blowing turha” (a traditional trumpet) – against BJP MP Ramdas Tadas.
In Nanded, BJP MP Pratap Chikhalikar is pitted against Congress nominee Vasant Chavan.
Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh, will vote in three more phases between May 7 and May 20.
- 26 April 2024 4:44 PM IST
#WATCH | Karnataka: Actor Shiva Rajkumar arrives at a polling booth in Bengaluru to cast his vote for the #LokSabhaElections2024 pic.twitter.com/cnPMVwfHul
— ANI (@ANI) April 26, 2024 - 26 April 2024 4:43 PM IST
UP records over 44% pc voting in 8 constituencies till 3 pm
A voter turnout of 44.13 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in the eight parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh in the second phase 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.
According to the Election Commission (EC), 51.44 per cent votes were polled in Amroha, 47.52 per cent in Meerut, 42.92 per cent in Baghpat, 41.13 per cent in Ghaziabad, 44.08 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 44.54 in Bulandshahr, 44.08 per cent in Aligarh and 39.45 in Mathura till 3 pm.
There are more than 1.67 crore voters, 7,797 polling stations and 17,704 polling booths in these eight Lok Sabha constituencies.
Among the 91 candidates in the fray in this phase are actor-turned-politician Hema Malini, seeking a third term from Mathura on a BJP ticket, and actor Arun Govil, who portrayed the role of Lord Ram in television serial "Ramayan".
The ruling BJP has fielded Govil from his native place Meerut, Atul Garg from Ghaziabad and Mahesh Sharma from Gautam Buddh Nagar. Danish Ali of the Congress is contesting the polls from Amroha.
In Mathura, voters of four villages are boycotting the polls alleging indifference of representatives towards their basic problems. "The villagers are being persuaded to cast their votes with assurance that their problems would be given top priority," District Magistrate Shailendra Singh said.
There is, however, a lot of enthusiasm among the first-time voters of Mathura, even in the rural areas such as Barsana, the DM said.
In Bulandshahr, voting could not start at the primary school in Chhotabas village in the Pahasu area with villagers staying away over the non-construction of a road. However, after persuasion of the administrative officials, voting began there around 11 am.
SDM Shikarpur Priyanka Goyal said the villagers have complained about the road and drainage problems which will be looked into. The villagers have now started reaching for polling, she added.
BJP candidate Hema Malini, while talking to reporters, said she was hopeful that people would vote in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by pressing the lotus button on the EVMs.
"I would not have been the MP from Mathura had opposition party candidates worked even a little for the constituency," Malini said while responding to a question.
Claiming herself to be the 'gopi' (female devotee) of 'Kanha', she said, "The promises I have made would be fulfilled to receive the blessings of Kanha." RLD president Jayant Chaudhary along with his wife Charu Chaudhary turned up at a booth in Mathura to cast their votes.
"People are impressed by the performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the past ten years and that is why BJP is getting support from them in a big way," Jayant Chaudhary told reporters.
In Baghpat, people from all walks of life preferred to vote early in the day to avoid the scorching heat after noon and also made it a point to get clicked at the selfie points.
In Ghaziabad, Union Minister General (retd) V K Singh cast his vote in the morning. Singh, the current BJP MP from Ghaziabad, had announced not to contest the elections this time and the party in his place has fielded former state government minister Atul Garg as its candidate.
In response to a question, Singh said he was confident that the BJP would achieve Modi's target of crossing 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
After casting his vote in Aligarh, SP candidate Bijendra Singh told reporters, "The country is run by the Constitution, not by emotions and the voting taking place in the country today is to save the Constitution and the truth. Therefore, I am confident that this time the BJP will lose and the INDI Alliance will win." In Amroha, Congress candidate MP Danish Ali claimed that there is a one-sided atmosphere in the elections and his BJP rival will be far behind him.
- 26 April 2024 4:41 PM IST
West Bengal: Over 60% voting in 3 LS seats till 3 pm
Three Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal recorded over 60 per cent voting till 3 pm in the second phase of polling on Friday, an Election Commission official said.
Polling, which is underway in Darjeeling, Balurghat and Raiganj constituencies, will continue till 6 pm.
Darjeeling continued to record the highest voter turnout of 61.97 per cent, while Raiganj and Balurghat registered 60.20 per cent and 59.53 per cent polling, respectively, he said.
"Polling is peaceful and there is no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the parliamentary constituencies," the official said.
Till 2.15 pm, the poll panel received 411 complaints from the three parliamentary constituencies, he said.
A total of 47 candidates, including state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, are in the fray in this phase, with 51.17 lakh people eligible to exercise their franchise.
Altogether 5,298 polling stations have been set up across the three constituencies. There are 1,999 polling stations in Darjeeling, 1,730 in Raiganj and 1,569 in Balurghat, he said.
A total of 272 companies or 27,200 personnel of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), alongside 12,983 state police personnel have been deployed for the polls, the official added.
- 26 April 2024 4:40 PM IST
Rajasthan records over 50% voter turnout in 13 seats till 3 pm
After low turnout in the first phase of polling on April 19, the polling turnout showed a significant upward trend in the second phase in Rajasthan where more than 50 per cent voting took place in 13 Lok Sabha seats by 3 pm, which was 41.51 per cent on 12 seats in the first phase.
50.27 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 3 pm across the 13 parliamentary constituencies. At the same time, 66.52 per cent of voting took place in the Bagidora assembly constituency, according to official data.
The polling percentage in 12 Lok Sabha seats that went to polls in the first phase on April 19 was 41.51 per cent by this time.
Around 2.8 crore voters are eligible to vote in the second phase of the polls. This is the final phase of polling in Rajasthan.
Voting is underway in Barmer-Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Jalore, Chittorgarh, Banswara, Kota-Bundi, Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Udaipur, Rajsamand, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran, along with the Bagidora Assembly constituency where a by-poll is underway.
The highest voter turnout of 60.01 per cent was recorded in the tribal-dominated Banswara-Dungarpur seat in South Rajasthan by 3 pm while the Barmer-Jaisalmer seat located along the Indo-Pak border recorded 59.71 per cent voting.
Tonk-Sawai Madhopur recorded the lowest turnout of 42.61 per cent till 3 pm, according to official data.
Voting percentage in other constituencies till 3 pm stood at 43.28 in Ajmer, 45.39 in Bhilwara, 51.71 in Chittorgarh, 49.85 in Jalore, 56.12 in Jhalawar, 50 in Jodhpur, 54.78 in Kota, 44.27 in Pali, 43.94 in Rajsamand and 51.60 in Udaipur.
Enthusiasm was seen among the people who lined up at the polling booths to cast votes.
However, in Banswara, no voter reached the Adibheet polling booth during the initial hours. The locals have certain demands regarding compensation against land acquired for a power plant and have declared to boycott the elections.
The officials said that they are trying to convince the voters to exercise their franchise.
In the first two hours of the voting, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who is contesting from Kota-Bundi, BJP state president CP Joshi, BJP candidate from Chittorgarh, Union minister and BJP candidate from Jodhpur Gajendra Singh Shekhawat cast their votes.
Assembly speaker Vasudev Devnani cast his vote in Ajmer while former chief ministers Vasundhara Raje and Ashok Gehlot exercised their franchise in Jhalawar and Jodhpur respectively.
108-year-old Bhuri Bai cast her vote at the Gunjara polling booth in the Kota-Bundi LS constituency. She was brought to the polling booth in a wheelchair by the family members.
A man, his son and granddaughters, representing three generations, reached a polling station at Sankand in Jalore to cast votes. They also took pictures at the selfie point in the booth.
A groom, Radhe Suthar, cast his vote at Bhadsoda in Chittorgarh before going for his wedding procession. Suthar told reporters that it is important to exercise franchise in democracy, so he spared time to cast a vote before his marriage function.
Voting for 12 seats in the desert state was held in the first phase on April 19.
The Bagidora Assembly seat in Banswara fell vacant after Congress MLA Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya switched over to the BJP. Malviya is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Banswara as a BJP candidate.
Rajasthan has a total of 25 Lok Sabha seats. 12 went to poll in the first phase on April 19 and polling in the 13 seats is underway on Friday.
- 26 April 2024 4:10 PM IST
Voter turnout till 3 pm
Assam 60.32%
Bihar 44.24%
Chhattisgarh 63.32%
Jammu And Kashmir 57.76%
Karnataka 50.93%
Kerala 51.64%
Madhya Pradesh 46.50%
Maharashtra 43.01%
Manipur 68.48%
Rajasthan 50.27%
Tripura 68.92%
Uttar Pradesh 44.13%
West Bengal 60.60%
- 26 April 2024 4:07 PM IST
Senior politicians, LS poll candidates, actors cast votes; urge everyone to exercise their franchise
Prominent persons, including senior politicians and candidates contesting in the Lok Sabha polls as well as popular actors and heads of church, turned up in the first half of Friday to exercise their franchise during the polling in Kerala and urged everyone to vote.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan, BJP state president K Surendran, saffron party candidates Suresh Gopi and Anil Antony as well as Congress' K C Venugopal and Shafi Parambil were seen casting their votes early in the morning.
Besides them, Congress stalwart A K Antony, KPCC president K Sudhakaran, LDF convener E P Jayarajan and CPI(M)'s Thomas Isaac also came in the morning to exercise their democratic right.
Leaders of the CPI(M)-led LDF, Congress-led UDF and the BJP-led NDA claimed that their respective fronts will create history in the state.
Vijayan claimed that Kerala will "gift" a historic win to the LDF, a sentiment which was echoed by other Left leaders who all said that the BJP was never accepted by the people of the southern state and this trend will continue.
Responding to reporters' queries about the BJP's claim of getting double digit seats in Kerala, the CM said the saffron party will not even get one seat.
He said that even the Congress-led UDF will not win any seat as the people were unhappy with them.
The CM alleged that both the BJP and the Congress have an anti-Kerala stand.
Isaac, contesting from Pathanamthitta LS seat, said that LDF will win in all seats and the BJP will come a distant third everywhere.
Jayarajan too was confident of the LDF "creating history" in the state.
"The Left front needs to win for the country to have a future," he added.
Antony, Venugopal, Satheesan and Shashi Tharoor said that there is a pro-Congress and UDF wave in the state and the grand old party was the better alternative.
They all said that there was an anti-incumbency wave against the Centre and the Left government in Kerala and therefore, the Congress will win in all 20 seats.
The Congress leaders also said that for the survival of the country, the "communal and fascist" government at the Centre should be removed from power and a government by the INDIA bloc should come there.
Antony, whose son Anil Antony is contesting from Pathanamthitta LS seat on a BJP ticket, said that the saffron party will be demolished in the elections.
Anil Antony, who was among those who cast their votes early in the morning, claimed there was a pro-Narendra Modi sentiment in the state.
A similar view was expressed by Surendran, contesting from Wayanad LS seat, who said that the people will vote for Modi and his development agenda.
He said people of Kerala are unhappy with the LDF and UDF and those in Wayanad are ready to bid farewell to Rahul Gandhi.
He confidently asserted that after the results are announced on June 4, a lot of people would be leaving their parties to join the BJP.
Actor-cum-politician Suresh Gopi, contesting on a BJP ticket from Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, was confident he will win. He said that the people will decide based on the last 10 years' governance of the Modi government.
Candidates and leaders of all political parties encouraged everyone to exercise their franchise as this election will decide the future of the nation.
Besides them, prominent actors, including Sreenivasan, Fahadh Faasil, Tovino Thomas, Anna Rajan, Asif Ali and Renji Panicker, as well as church heads like Major Archbishop of the influential Syro-Malabar Church Raphael Thattil and Cardinal George Alencherry also voted in the morning.
After casting his vote, Thomas said that though very few options are available to the public to choose from in the elections, they should make the most of it and not refrain from exercising their right to vote.
Rajan, who took a break from her busy shooting schedules in Sri Lanka to cast her vote, said voting is everyone's right and people can make changes by exercising this right.
"I cast my vote. In a democratic country, we can make change through our votes," she said, urging everyone to be a part of the exercise.
Ali too urged people not to miss the chance of casting their vote citing reasons like scorching heat and humidity.
"As a citizen, it is our duty to exercise our franchise. It is the only chance to express our support or displeasure to someone. So, don't miss this chance," he told reporters.
Thattil too spoke along similar lines by encouraging everyone to exercise their right to vote.
He also said that the Catholic Church loves the country and wants it to be united.
