Eighth phase LS polls: Modi urges voters to vote in large numbers

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today urged the voters to vote in large numbers. Modi tweeted, "Polling for 64 seats across 7 states is underway. I hope people will vote in large numbers & youngsters will show the way in doing so."

"I also call upon those voting in Assembly polls in AP & those voting in Assembly by-polls in Bihar, HP, UP & WB to vote in record numbers," he further tweeted. Sixty-four Lok Sabha constituencies spread over seven states and 175 assembly constituencies in the Seemandhra region went to polls early in the morning amid tight security.

Today is the eighth and penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls are 25 in Andhra Pradesh, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Bihar, six in West Bengal, five in Uttarakhand, four in Himachal Pradesh and two in Jammu and Kashmir. Prominent candidates in the fray are Congress Party vice president Rahul Gandhi, Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma, Union HRD Minister M.M. Pallam Raju, ex-Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif and television actress Smriti Irani.

Varun Gandhi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Anurag Thakur, Ram Vilas Paswan, Rabri Devi and Kumar Vishwas are the other prominent leaders whose political future will be decided today.