New Delhi: An estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the 17.5 crore electorate cast their votes till noon for 136 Lok Sabha constituencies in 11 States amidst reports of violence in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur claiming three lives and injuring several others.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareilly), her son Rahul (Amethi) who makes an electoral debut, Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi (Mumbai Central) and Defence Minister George Fernandes (Muzaffarpur) are prominent among the 1,278 candidates whose electoral fate would be decided in the second phase of Parliamentary elections.

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

One Telugu Desam Party (TDP) activist was killed and two others injured as TDP and Congress workers clashed outside a polling booth in a village in East Godavari district. Clashes were also reported from Cuddapah district of the State where polling is being held for 21 of the 42 Lok Sabha and 147 of the 294 Assembly constituencies.

In Manipur, where militants have called for an election boycott and a 17-hour bandh to coincide with the polling, insurgents exchanged fire with security forces at several places killing a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan in Thoubal district and lobbed a grenade and fired at a polling booth in Bishenpur district.

A series of blasts overnight rocked inner Imphal, the only constituency going to polls in second and the last phase of elections in the State.

One person was killed and three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters were injured in a shootout at a polling booth in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh.