New Delhi: An estimated 50 to 55 per cent of the 17.56 crore voters today (Apr 20, 2004) exercised their franchise in the first phase of polling in Lok Sabha elections across 140 constituencies spread over 13 States and three Union Territories, the Election Commission announced in New Delhi.

Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Union Ministers Nitish Kumar, Jual Oram, Kashiram Rana and Harin Pathak were among the 1,100 candidates in the fray in the first phase.

In Jammu and Kashmir, where elections were held for the Baramulla and Jammu Parliamentary constituencies, militants carried out a series of attacks on polling booths killing four people, including a freelance journalist and two security personnel, and injuring several others.

Elections 2004-The Drama unfolds...
Political Parties in India

Notwithstanding militants attempt to disrupt polls and the boycott called by separatists, over 35 per cent polling was recorded in the two constituencies, according to preliminary estimates.

Reports of violence also came in from Manipur, Bihar, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, where a duty magistrate was killed when Naxalites triggered a landmine blast in a village in Dhanbad.

Polls were held for all 26 Parliamentary seats in Gujarat, 24 out of 48 in Maharashtra, 21 out of 42 in Andhra Pradesh, 15 out of 28 in Karnataka, 11 out of 40 in Bihar, 11 each in Chhattisgarh and Orissa, six each in Assam and Jharkhand and two each in Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya and one each in Manipur, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

Elections were also held in 147 of 294 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, 120 of 224 in Karnataka and 77 of 147 in Orissa.

Four para-military personnel were killed and three injured when People's Liberation Army (PLA) militants attacked them at Sajik Tampak near Manipur-Myanmar border overnight. The insurgents also destroyed election material, including electronic voting machines (EVMs), official sources said in Imphal.

In Gujarat, Congress candidate for Mehsana Jeeva Bhai Patel's car was damaged by a mob outside Lagnaj polling station.