With nominations, 1st phase of polls begins

The process of filing of nominations for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls kickstarted on Monday and will continue till March 25. Scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on March 26 and the last day of withdrawing nominations is March 28.

In the first phase of elections, eight states and two Union Territories include Andhra Pradesh (25 seats), Telangana (17), Uttarakhand (5) Arunachal Prdaesh (2), Meghalaya (2) and Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Lakshadweep and Andaman one seats each.

Polls will also be held on five seats in Assam, four seats in Bihar, two seats in J&K, seven seats in Maharashtra, four seats in Odisha, eight seats in UP, two seats in West Bengal and one seat each in Manipur and Chhattisgarh. All these states will have multi-phased elections.

While no nominations were filed in Uttar Pradesh, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi and TRS leader B Vinod Kumar were among those who filed nomination papers Monday for the April 11 Lok Sabha elections in Telangana. "No nominations were filed on the first day," Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), L Venkateshwarlu said.

Nearly 1.50 crore voters, including 82.24 lakh male and 68.39 lakh female in 20 states and UTs are eligible to cast votes on April 11. They will cast votes for 91 seats in the first phase.

Leading Noms

• Owaisi is seeking a fourth term in the lower house of Parliament from Hyderabad constituency 
• Actor Sumalatha will contest from Mandya seat, to file on March 20