In Uttarakhand, a newly married couple exercised their voting rights at a polling booth in Pauri Garhwal.
In another instance, three generations of a family exercised their voting rights: Prabha Sharma, accompanied by her daughter Preeti Kaushik and granddaughters Shamita Kaushik and Sakshi Kaushik, cast their votes together at a polling booth in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun.
Uttarakhand Chief Electoral Office, BVRCC Purushottam, also cast his vote at booth number 141 in Dehradun.
In Sikkim, a senior citizen and an injured voter came to exercise their right to vote in the first phase of the Lok Sabha Election 2024.
In Jammu and Kashmir also, a newly-wed couple exercised their voting rights at a polling booth in Udhampur.
The newlywed woman, while speaking to ANI, said she and her husband have decided to prioritise their duty as responsible citizens by going to vote.
She urged everyone to exercise their right to vote.
“Yesterday I got married and I told my husband that we should go vote. I would like to tell everyone to not waste their vote; cast your vote,” she told ANI.
Voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 began on Friday across 102 parliamentary constituencies spread over 21 states and Union Territories as the mega seven-phase electoral exercise commenced at 7:00 am. Voters will exercise their franchise until 6:00 pm.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged everyone eligible to vote in record numbers.
PM has specifically called upon the young and first-time voters to come out in large numbers, emphasising that every vote counts and every voice matters.
“The Lok Sabha elections commence today! As 102 seats across 21 states and UTs go to the polls, I urge all those voting in these seats to exercise their franchise in record numbers. I particularly call upon the young and first-time voters to vote in large numbers. After all, every vote counts and every voice matters!” the PM said in a post on X.
PM Modi commended the musical duo MeetBros for their anthem, ‘Mera Pehla Vote Desh Ke Liye’, which aims to inspire first-time voters to participate in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “A great effort to inspire first-time voters to vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” the PM said.
The anthem features voices in different languages from various parts of the country urging first-time voters to vote in Lok Sabha elections
The 2024 Lok Sabha election, which is being conducted from April 19 to June 1, is set to be the second longest polling exercise in the country’s electoral history after the first general election, which was held over five months between September 1951 and February 1952.
The last general elections in 2019 were also held in seven phases.
Those voting in the first phase include seats in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry.
Along with this, voters in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are also exercising their franchise for the assembly elections today.
An estimated 8.4 crore male voters, 8.23 crore female voters, and 11,371 third-gender electors are eligible to vote in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, according to the ECI data
