New Delhi:

The first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections – a 44-day, seven-phase democratic process to elect a new government – started this morning with more than 16.63 billion voters, including 35.67 million first-time voters, heading to 1.87 lakh polling stations set up in 102 seats across 21 states and union territories.

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a 60-minute window for voters who arrive at the polls before the deadline and queue when the polls close. Results will be announced on June 4.

The 2024 elections are largely expected to be an NDA vs. India battle, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party relying heavily (once again) on the “Modi factor” and entrenched support in the Hindi heartland to win just once An electoral victory to defeat the fledgling Congress-led alliance – the Chandigarh mayoral election – lived up to its name.

The India Group has sounded confident in the past days and weeks, insisting it is feeling the wave of change fueled by discontent over job losses and a cost-of-living crisis, as well as concerns about the status of religious and socioeconomic minorities, that will lead to India The defeat of the PPP.

Experts say the NDA’s war with India is likely to hinge on both sides’ performance in key states, with the BJP alliance hoping for an improvement in the south to add to the large number of seats it expects to win from Hindi-speaking states. The Congress alliance is thought to want the opposite – it wants to significantly weaken the BJP’s northern strongholds while maintaining a relative blockade of the south, where, except for Karnataka, its enemies have been suffering. Struggling.

That said, when the dust settles and the votes are counted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely expected to secure a third consecutive term, although the opposition may face a tougher test.

The BJP has set an ambitious target for its alliance – to win more than 400 seats – 47 more seats than in the last election. The party’s personal target is equally ambitious, with 370 seats – 63 more than last time.

In 2019, the main opposition alliance (then the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance) secured only 90 seats.

Lok Sabha election first phase seats

All 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and 12 out of 25 seats in Rajasthan, including prominent constituencies such as Bikaner, Alwar, Jaipur and Jaipur Rural, will be contested in the first phase Take a vote. Also up for grabs today are eight of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, which has been dominated by the BJP in recent polls.

Read | As BJP battles in Tamil Nadu, PM takes ‘remember Jayalalithaa’ jibe at DMK

Six seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Chhindwara, the family bastion of Congress stalwart Kamal Nath, go to polls today. Current MP Nakul Nath is the Congress candidate and is the son of the former chief minister.

Uttarakhand, which has five Lok Sabha seats, is also going to polls today.

Maharashtra and Assam will also field five seats in the polls. Maharashtra has a total of 48 cities, with the headline contest taking place in Nagpur, the stronghold of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Of the 14 seats in Assam, voting will be held in Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Kaziranga, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur.​​ Lakhimpur) held.

NDTV Battlefield | Why the Maharashtra verdict is so unpredictable

Bihar – widely expected to be swept by the BJP and its once again ally, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United Party) – will contest four of its 40 seats Voting, including Jamui and Gaya.

Three seats in Bengal will go to polls today, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the ruling Trinamool Congress set to once again go toe-to-toe in Bengal in what is sure to be a tumultuous election. All three – Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar – are in the crucial North Bengal region where the Trinamool is keen to wrest victory from its rivals.

The remaining six northeastern states – Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura – are also voting. Nine out of 10 seats here will go to polls today.

In the Arunachal west seat, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju is looking for a third consecutive victory.

Sikkim’s lone Lok Sabha seat also went to polls today, as did single-seat constituencies in Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Puducherry. Bastar seats in Maoist-hit Chhattisgarh (11 seats) and Udhampur seats in Jammu and Kashmir (5) are the last seats to vote in the first phase.

NDTV Battlefield | Karnataka’s Modi factor vs Congress assurances

Tamil Nadu is expected to contest between the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazagam and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagam Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagam – Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagam – The two parties were allies until a bitter split last year. The BJP must now rely on smaller allies in a country that has never shown enthusiasm for its nationalist agenda in the past. In 2019, it received less than 3.7% of the vote.

Lok Sabha first phase seating details

Perhaps the biggest headline in the first phase is Tamil Nadu.

The southern state has been bombarded by the BJP in recent weeks. The prime minister has made nearly a dozen visits over the past few weeks in a bid to improve a situation that saw zero seats and a vote share of less than 3.7% five years ago. Given that the BJP has been abandoned by its ally AIADMK, one of the only two major parties in the state, and that the ruling DMK-Congress combine defeated all opponents in the 2019 general election and the 2021 assembly elections, any progress All will be hard-won.

NDTV Exclusive | How many Lok Sabha seats will the BJP win in the south?

The BJP’s “southern mission” requires strong results in Tamil Nadu and Kerala (which goes to polls in the second phase on April 26) – two states that have never given the party any favors. At the rally, Modi launched a blistering attack on Chief Minister Stalin and the Congress, but notably did not target the AIADMK. In fact, the Prime Minister’s lavish praise of party icon J Jayalalithaa may be hoping to sway voters who are divided between the two parties.

Read | Tamil Nadu battleground: Without a major ally, will the Modi factor come into play?

The BJP, which last year won some state polls in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, is likely to vote for the lotus symbol again. In 2019, the party won 24 (out of 25) and 28 (out of 29) seats from these states. In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress’s only victory was in Chhindwara.

The BJP won all five seats in Uttarakhand last time and is expected to win again this year.

In Uttar Pradesh, the party has been virtually unbeatable in recent polls, winning 62 of 80 seats in 2019 and 71 five years ago. This year, out of eight seats in the first phase, the BJP holds three seats including Kairana, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan’s Rampur bastion and Varun Gandhi’s Pilibhit Seat.

However, the BJP has decided that Mr Gandhi will not defend his seat.

Read | ‘If not for Congress…’: Dumped by the BJP, Varun Gandhi’s emotional notes

Seven seats in Bihar and Bengal go to polls today, including the BJP’s newly established bastion in north Bengal and the Jamui seat in Bihar, where BJP leader Chirag Paswan The base camp. However, the Liberal Party president chose not to defend the seat and fielded his brother-in-law Arun Bharti.

Read | 10 free LPG cylinders, 5 kg ration, CAA-free: Trinamool’s poll promise

Bihar and Bengal have a total of 82 Lok Sabha seats. In 2019, the BJP and its allies JDU and LJP won resoundingly in Bihar. In Bengal, the party stunned the Trinamool by winning 18 seats (16 more than in the 2014 elections) and saw a huge jump in vote share of 22.25%.

A strong performance on this front is crucial for the BJP not only to achieve its goals but also to stay in its favor ahead of the 2025 (Bihar) and 2026 (Bengal) assembly elections balance of power.