Lok Sabha polls: Voting underway, high turnout in WB

There are a total of 2076 candidates in the fray across 117 constituencies.

While voting is more or less peaceful so far, in West Bengal the opposition parties have alleged that EVM machines were tampered with in Balurghat from where Trinamool Congress has fielded theatre personality  Arpita Ghosh.

Opposition said the EVM machine in a polling station showed all votes going to Trinamool Congress. Opposition has demanded repoll in two polling stations.

In West Bengal the turnout was 40 percent till 11 am.

Polling is being held in all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, 19 of 48 in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, 12 of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, 10 of 29 in Madhya Pradesh, 7 of 40 in Bihar, 7 of 11 in Chhattisgarh, 6 of 14 in Assam, 6 of 42 in West Bengal, 5 of 25 in Rajasthan, 4 of 14 in Jharkhand, 1 of 6 in Jammu & Kashmir and the one seat in Puducherry.

In Tamil Nadu and Puducherry  20% balloting was seen till 10 am which picked up later and till 11 am Tamil Nadu witnessed 35 percent polling. In Mathura in Uttar Pradesh the polling was 28 percent till 11 am.

In Maharashtra, the turnout was 17 per cent till around 11 am.

The big names whose fates will be decided on Thursday are Union Ministers Salman Khurshid, Milind Deora, Namo Narayan Meena, Jitendra Singh and Tariq Anwar, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, actor-turned BJP leader Hema Malini, former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin and President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit Mukherjee.

In Mumbai in Maharashtra, several Bollywood personalities cast their votes. Rekha and Aamir Khan were seen casting their votes besides cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar.