Polling for the first phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections commences on Friday, April 19, 2024, with 102 seats out of 543 seats going to the polls.
Phase I: Touch And Go Seats
Accoding to data available from the Election Commission of India, 8 seats in the first phase had a victory margin of less than 2 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Of this, the Chidamabram seat in Tamil Nadu was won by Thol Thirumavalavan belonging to the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi party defeating All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate M Chandrakasi by a margin of mere 0.28 per cent votes.
The Saharanpur seat in Uttar Pradesh was won by Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Haji Fazlur Rehman defeating Raghav Lakhanpal of Bharatiya Janata Party by a margin of 1.82 per cent votes.
The Election Commission data shows 16.63 crore (166.3 million) voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first phase on Friday.
Of this, 8.40 crore (84 million) voters are male voters while 8.23 crore (82.3 million) voters are female voters and the third gender number stands at 11,371.
The Bahujan Samaj Party led by Mayawati has fielded the maximum number of 86 candidates in the first phase followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (77) and the Congress (56).
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
