New Delhi:Â The first substantial round of polling in the Lok Sabha elections began on Thursday in 11 states and three Union Territories for 92 constituencies.
Around 110 million voters, including riot-hit Muzaffarnagar, Delhi and the national capital region, will decide the electoral fortunes of 154 candidates.
Of the 92 seats going to the polls, seven are in Delhi, 10 in Uttar Pradesh, 10 in Maharashtra, five in Jharkhand, nine in Madhya Pradesh, 20 in Kerala, six in Bihar, 10 in Haryana, 10 in Odisha, and one each in Chandigarh, Goa, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir.
The BJP, led by prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, appears to have an edge in 10 Lok Sabha berths in western Uttar Pradesh.
In riot-hit Muzaffarnagar, the votes are clearly polarised, with the majority chunk of the Jat community veering towards the BJP while a large chunk of the minority vote is tilting to the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party.
The BJP’s UP in-charge, Amit Shah, a close aide of Mr Modi, has been accused of trying to polarise the Uttar Pradesh votebank as he exhorted the Jats to “vote for revengeâ€.
