Good turnout in India first phase polls

According to officials, Tripura witnessed 83 percent turnout till the polling ended at 5 pm. The total electorate for the Tripura West seat that went to polls on Monday was 12,46,794.

The polling was peaceful in Left Front ruled Tripura and no untoward incident was reported as since more long queues were seen as voters came out in large numbers to exercise their franchise. Tripura East will witness polling on Apr 12.

In Congress-ruled Assam the polling was held in Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seats. A total of 51 candidates were in the fray. Till 5 pm, about 72.5 percent turnout was witnessed, an official of the state election department told IBNS.

The figure is likely to go up, he said. The total number of voters in Assam in these five seats is 6.4 million.

Assam will vote in two more phases on April 12 and  April 24.

The vote in two states of Northeast heralded a nine-phase parliamentary elections till May 12 in which the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by the Congress is challenged by a determined Hindu nationalist BJP that has named Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its PM candidate.

After Apr 7, voting will be held on Apr 9, Apr 10, Apr 12, Apr 17, Apr 24, Apr 30, May 7 and May 12 across a total of 543 parliamentary constituencies.

Counting will take place on  May 16. The term of 15th Lok Sabha expires on May 31.

A total of 814 million people are eligible to cast their votes across India this year in which the Congress, that became unpopular owing to several financial scandals, is facing a tough challenge from Modi, who has been pitched as a strong leader with a proven track record in his state Gujarat by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spearheading the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has announced Modi as their PM candidate long before, Congress did not name its vice-president Rahul Gandhi, heir to the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty, as their official PM candidate though the fight is clearly between him and the Gujarat strongman who however continues to battle the ghosts of the 2002 anti-Muslim riots while seeking his acceptability among all forces and communities.

Modi is ahead of Gandhi in polls but still it is not going to be a cakewalk for the NDA.

The emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by its leader Arvind Kejriwal who has pitched his umbrella outfit of anti-corruption crusaders and social activists, as a true representative of the common people (as the nomenclature itself suggests) , is a new factor in Indian politics too and it can offer a real challenge to the mighty national and regional parties having won polls in the national capital earlier.

There is also talks of a Third Front in India sans BJP or Congress but there is no clear shape of that grouping yet.

Several regional parties like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee´s Trinamool Congress can also play significant role after the results if the UPA or the NDA fails to obtain clear majority.