He added that by defeating hatred, ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ will be opened in every nook and corner of the country.

New Delhi:

As voting begins in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urged voters to strengthen democracy and open ‘Mohabbat ki Dukaan’ in every corner of the country by defeating hatred.

“Today is the first phase of voting! Remember, each of your votes will decide the future of Indian democracy and its generations,” Mr Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on “X”.

“Go out and use your vote to heal the wounds that have been inflicted on the soul of this country over the past decade and strengthen democracy,” he said.

The Congress leader added that ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ will be opened in every corner of the country by defeating hatred.

Mr. Gandhi also shared pictures of key guarantees provided by the Congress to the people, including right to apprenticeship, legal guarantee for MSP and National Caste Census.

The 2024 Lok Sabha polls kicked off on Friday with the first phase of voting scheduled for 102 seats spread across 21 states and union territories.

Those involved in the debate include Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Sarbanada Sonowal and Bhupendra Yadav, Congress’s Gaurav Gaurav Gogoi, Kanimozhi of the DMK and K Annamalai of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh (60 seats) and Sikkim (32 seats) are also held simultaneously.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led New Democratic Alliance is seeking a larger majority, voters in the opposition Indian bloc hope to The economy can rebound.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)