Voting for India's parliamentary election, the largest democratic exercise in the world, began at 7 am with Election Commission urging people to exercise their franchise in maximum number
Voting for the Lok Sabha at 5 Thongju, 31 Khongman zones of Imphal was stopped after some women alleged irregularities in the polling process and created a ruckus.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged the migrant voters who had come to the state not to leave without voting in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, alleging that if they don't exercise their right, the Bharatiya Janata Party will take away their citizenship.
Maharashtra Minister and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, Chhagan Bhujbal, who was eyeing to contest as Mahayuti candidate in the Lok Sabha polls, has withdrawn from the race on Friday over the delay in the announcement of the candidate for the Nashik seat.
Madhya Pradesh recorded a robust 53.40 per cent voter turnout till 3 am in the first phase of polling for six parliamentary seats in the state, according to data released by the Election Commission on Friday.
Tripura is leading the voter turnout charts after it recorded a 68.35 voting percentage in the state till 3 pm as per the data released by the Election Commission of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the Congress and INDIA bloc are busy insulting the Hindu faith and beliefs adding that these were the same people who called the worship of Lord Ram a "paakhand" (hyprocrisy).
CM Yadav also said that he was happy that over 1.09 crore voters would be voting in six Lok Sabha seats in the state which include Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat and Chhindwara in the first phase of LS polls.
Karnataka BJP leader and former minister Malikayya Guttedar joined the Congress party in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and state minister Priyank Kharge on Friday.