Braving summer heat, an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the voters turned up during the first four hours of polling today for the fifth and final phase of Lok Sabha elections which was by and large peaceful.
Two scribes of private TV channels were injured when they were allegedly attacked by activists of ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) at Duneke village on the outskirts of Moga town when they recorded footage of party workers carrying weapons in vehicles, police sources said.
One person was killed early this morning in a clash between Trinamool Congress activists and CPI-M cadre at Baliguri on the outskirts of Kolkata, before the polling began.
While Tamil Nadu recorded 22 per cent of voting till 1100 hrs, Uttar Pradesh registered 21 per cent, Puducherry 25 per cent, Punjab, West Bengal and Uttarakhand 15-20 per cent each, Himachal Pradesh 12 -15 per cent, Chandigarh 18 per cent and Jammu and Kashmir six per cent.
Prominent candidates in the fray include Home Minister P Chidambaram, DMK's T R Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran and M K Azhagiri, Congress' Md Azharuddin, BJP's Maneka and Varun Gandhi and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, MDMK's Vaiko and SP's Jayaprada.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chaterjee, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa were some of the early voters.
Cine star-turned-politician Jaya Prada, south Indian superstar Rajinikanth, music composer A R Rahman and DMK leader M K Stalin are among others who exercised their franchise.
Voting is underway in 86 constituencies spread across seven states and two union territories in this phase. A total of 1,432 candidates are contesting.
Besides all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, elections are being held to four seats in Himachal Pradesh, two in Jammu and Kashmir, nine in Punjab, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in West Bengal, five in Uttarakhand and the lone one seat each in both Chandigarh and Puducherry.
Over 10.78 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise across 1.21 lakh booths through EVMs.
Congress' Mani Shankar Aiyar, Sajjad Gani Lone of People's Conference, BJP's Vinod Khanna and Navjot Singh Sidhu are among other prominent faces in this round.
Polling has been completed to 457 Lok Sabha seats since the exercise began on April 16. Results will be out on May 16.
The Lok Sabha has 545 members, but elections are held to 543 seats as two members are nominated from the Anglo-Indian community.
