Good turnout in India third phase polls till noon
Polling is being held across 91 Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi, Kerala, Odisha, western Uttar Pradesh, including riot-hit Muzaffarnagar, Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh, plains of Jammu, Maoist-hit Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Haryana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
According to latest reports, more than 30 percent turnout was witnessed in Haryana till noon while in the riot hit Uttar Padesh's Musaffarnagar it was over 31 per cent balloting till 12 o'clock.
In Kerala, the voter turnout was 38 per cent till noon while Odisha also witnessed good number of nearly 30 percent of the electorate voting till the same time for both assembly and Lok Sabha seats that are going to polls in this phase.
According to reports, the polling in Delhi is 40 percent till 1 pm.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kerjiwal are among the top politicians who cast their votes on Thursday in Delhi.
All of them exercised their franchise in the national capital. Sonia Gandhi showed her inked finger to the gathering after casting her vote at the Nirman Bhawan polling booth.
Other prominent voters were Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra in Lodhi Estate.
Kejriwal, whose AAP did surprisingly well in assembly polls and even formed a government for a short period, said he is confident of AAP winning the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.
The polling is also star studded in places. In Chandiagarh, BJP candidate and Bollywood actor Kirran Kher accompanied his 101-year-old father to the polling station where he voted.
Voting for the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir is also brisk as enthusiastic voters queued outside polling stations waiting for their turns.
In Bihar, which witnessed a turnout of nearly 30 percent till 1 pm, voting was stopped in Jamui parliamentary constituency after at least two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed and three others were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) triggered by Maoists.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat cast his vote in Nagpur city of Maharashtra.
Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi urged voters to exercise their franchise in large numbers.
"All those voting today in 91 Lok Sabha seats, 70 seats for Odisha Vidhan Sabha & by-election in Maharashtra should vote in record numbers," tweeted Modi.
Thursday's elections will decide the fate of top leaders like union ministers Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Ajit Singh, former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, retired Army chief General VK Singh, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates Yogendra Yadav, Ashutosh and Shazia Ilmi.
The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.
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