The first phase of Election 2024 on Friday, April 19, 2024, covered 102 seats across 21 states and Union Territories.
A voter turnout of nearly 63 percent was recorded amid sporadic incidents of violence at some places and an accidental explosion of a grenade launcher shell in Chhattisgarh.
IMAGE: A sealed Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at a polling station in Alipurduar district, West Bengal, after the end of the first phase of the general election. Photograph: Sahiba Chawdhary/Reuters
IMAGE: Polling officials carrying sealed VVPATs and EVMs leave a polling station, in Alipurduar. Photograph: Sahiba Chawdhary/Reuters
IMAGE: An election official holds a control unit during the first phase of the election at Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu. Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters
IMAGE: Election officials seal a control unit in Tiruvannamalai. Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters
IMAGE: Polling officials seal a VVPAT at a polling station in Bikaner district, Rajasthan. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters
IMAGE: Polling officials pack a VVPAT at a polling station in Bikaner. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters
IMAGE: Polling officials seal an EVM in Bikaner. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters
IMAGE: Election officials seal a control unit in Nongriat village in Shillong, Meghalaya. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com