There was a substantial increase in the voter turnout charts across the states in the country, with North-Easterm state of Tripura still leading at 53.04 per cent till 1 pm as per the data released by the Election Commission of India.

 Other Northeast states like Meghalaya (48.91) and Manipur (46.92) are also witnessing high voter turnout percentages.

 After Tripura, West Bengal is experiencing high voter turnout at 50.96 per cent.

 The lowest turnout till 1 pm has been recorded in Lakshadweep at 29.91 per cent.

 Voting percentages for the states participating in phase 1 elections are — Andaman and Nicobar Islands – 35.70 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh – 37.39 per cent, Assam – 45.12 per cent, Bihar – 32.41 per cent, Chhattisgarh – 42.57 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir – 43.11 per cent, Maharashtra – 32.36 per cent and Madhya Pradesh- 44.43.

Mizoram – 39.71 per cent, Nagaland – 43.62 per cent, Puducherry – 44.95 per cent, Rajasthan – 33.73 per cent, Sikkim – 36.82 per cent, Tamil Nadu – 39.51 per cent, Tripura – 53.04 per cent, Uttar Pradesh – 36.96 per cent, Uttarakhand 37.33 per cent.

 The voter turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was over 67 per cent.

 The commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu are also monitoring the progress of polling in Phase 1 of General Elections at ECI Headquarters today.

 Voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 began on Friday across 102 parliamentary constituencies spread over 21 states and Union Territories as the mega seven-phase electoral exercise commenced at 7:00 am.

 Voters will exercise their franchise until 6:00 pm. According to the data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI), a total of 1.87 lakh polling stations have been set up, while 18 lakh personnel have been deployed across the 102 constituencies going to the polls.

 The second phase will be held on April 26 and the remaining phases will be May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1 accordingly.

 The last general elections in 2019 were also held in seven phases.  There are a total of 2,226 polling stations in the state, 480 polling booths fall under shadow areas, while 588 booths have been identified as critical and 443 as vulnerable.

 Arunachal Pradesh has two parliamentary constituencies, Arunachal East and Arunachal West. The Assembly polls will be held concurrently with the Lok Sabha elections for the two seats in Arunachal on April 19. The counting of the votes will take place on June 4.