India votes in first phase of Lok Sabha elections, approximately 60 percent voting recorded across 102 seats till 5pm

The key battle is between Hindu nationalist leader Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and a dozen opposition parties, who have joined hands to form an alliance named INDIA, to challenge the march of the PM towards ruling Delhi for another term.

Earlier in the day, an Election Commission of India official, the polling body conducting elections in the world's most populous nation, posted on X: "Voters show great enthusiasm, as polling reaches halfway mark."

In the first phase of election, the 102 seats are from 21 states and union territories.

Among all states, Tamil Nadu's all 39 seats have gone into polling in the first phase.

With the first phase of voting, polling is over in 10 states.

Polling will be held in Tamil Nadu (39), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1), Lakshadweep (1) Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (Shillong and Tura), and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1) in the first phase.

Bengal reports stray violence:

Barring reports of stray violence, the first phase election to three Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal was by and large peaceful as 77.57 percent of the 5.6 million electorate exercised their franchise till 5 PM on Friday, reported UNI news agency

Polling was brisk and long queues were seen outside the booths in the first phase election in north Bengal's Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri constituencies, which were all won by the BJP in 2019.

First phase passes peacefully in Bihar

Amid tight security arrangements, an estimated 48.23 percent of 76,01,629 electorate voted during the first phase of Lok Sabha election in four seats of Bihar.

Arunachal Pradesh witnesses over 60 per cent voting

More than 65 per cent electorate in Arunachal Pradesh have cast their votes till 5 pm in the simultaneous elections to the 18th Lok Sabha and the 11th State Legislative Assembly, according to the data available with the poll panel as reported by UNI.