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Phase 1 LS Election 2019 Highlights: Faulty EVMs, Clashes & More

From murder and Naxal attacks, to faulty EVMs and forcibly stopping citizens from voting here’s what happened.

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11 April was Day 1 of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the day has been BUZZING with activity.

If you’ve been caught up or busy, here’s everything noteworthy that happened. Day 1 of the elections has been marked by EVM malfunctions, Naxal attacks and violent clashes and death. We have a lot of base to cover, so sit back and listen.

A total of 91 seats in 20 states went to polls on 11 April.

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Voting Phase 1 Election 2019 Highlights: Andhra Pradesh

Two people were killed in violent clashes in Andhra Pradesh. A TDP worker and a YSR Congress party worker were killed near AP’s Anantapur after clashes broke out between the two parties.

Apart from this, AP’s Chief electoral officer GK Dwivedi said that out of over 45,000 EVMs in the state, at least 362 were found to be faulty. Dwivedi refused a request to hold repolling in these areas and said that instead, polling time would be extended to make up for the delay.

A little distance away, another attack was reported, this time on TDP leader K Siva Prasada Rao.

Interestingly enough, all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh went to polls on 11 April, making it one of the few states to do so.

Andhra Pradesh reported 55 percent voter turnout and Telangana 60.57 percent at 5 pm.

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Voting Phase 1 Election 2019 Highlights: Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir

Other incidents of alleged coercion or undue influence were also reported from across the country. In Jammu and Kashmir, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti alleged that the BSF had manhandled a voter who refused to vote for the BJP.

The two seats in J&K – Jammu and Baramulla, reported a voter turnout of 54.49%.

Now let’s roll on over to the Hindi heartland - Uttar Pradesh, where eight constituencies out of 80 went to vote today. Security forces at polling booths fired shots in the air to deter alleged fake voters from casting their vote. How this was meant to deter JUST the fake voters, we don’t know yet.

In Noida, a number of photos emerged of police distributing “Namo food packets” at a polling booth in Gautam Buddh Nagar. That’s right. Police distributing ‘Namo’ branded food packets, at a polling booth no less. UP’s CEO has demanded a report on this from the GB Nagar district magistrate. The BSP also wrote to the Election Commission in UP alleging that police were stopping voters, especially Dalits, from reaching polling booths.

Voter turnout in UP’s heartland was 59.77 percent at 5 pm.

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Voting Phase 1 Election 2019 Highlights: Other Highlights

Next let’s head to Maharashtra where seven out of 48 constituencies went to polls on Day 1. The polls in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli were shaken by an IED blast.

The blast, believed to be the work of naxals, took place near a poll booth in Etapalli. No injuries were reported. Gadchiroli-Chimuri is one of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra that went to polls on 11 April.

In Chhattisgarh, where polling took place for the Bastar seat, four naxals were arrested with firearms on them.

Bihar and West Bengal recorded a voter turnout of 50.26 percent and 81 percent respectively at 5 pm.

You can head on over to The Quint for more details on the elections.

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

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Topics:  The Big Story 

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