LS elections phase 8: Brisk polling till 9 am

Till 9 am, West Bengal witnessed a voter turnout of around 24 per cent.

Around 25 per cent was recorded in Jhargram, 22 per cent in Midnapore, 24 per cent in Purulia, 26 per cent in Bankura, 24 per cent in Bishnupur and 22 per cent in Asansol parliamentary constituencies.

In Uttar Pradesh's Amethi, the turnout was 10.4 per cent till 9 am.

Pertinently, it is one of the most watched seats in this election where the contest is among Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, AAP's Kumar Vishwas and BJP's Smriti Irani.

In Sultanpur, the turnout was 13 per cent till 9 am. BJP's Varun Gandhi is pitted against Congress' Amita Singh in this constituency.

Voting percentage in Saran constituency of Bihar was 16.5 per cent. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's wife Rabri Devi is contesting from this seat.

 India is undergoing its eighth phase of elections on Wednesday with 64 parliamentary constituencies across seven states going to the hustings.

Voting is being held for 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, 7 in Bihar, 6 in West Bengal, 5 in Uttarakhand, and 2 in Jammu and Kahsmir and 4 in Himachal Pradesh.

A total of 1,737 candidates are contesting in this phase.

The key candidates in the fray on Wednesday are Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Congress leaders Beni Prasad Verma, MM Pallam Raju and Mohd. Kaif and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Smriti Irani, Varun Gandhi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Anurag Thakur.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ram Vilas Paswan and RJD leader Rabri Devi's fates will also be decided in Wednesday's election.

A total of 18.47 crore people are eligible to vote in this round.

Polling is also being held in 175 assembly constituencies in Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh simultaneously on Wednesday.