Moderate to brisk voting was today recorded in the first five hours of polling across 12 states covering 121 constituencies in the fifth phase - the biggest of the nine-phased Lok Sabha polls amidst Maoist violence in Jharkhand where rebels injured a CRPF jawan, blew up a railway track and exploded ten bombs.
About 30 per cent of 16.61 crore cast their vote till noon in this phase in which 1,769 candidates including Nandan Nilekani (Cong), Maneka Gandhi, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda (JD-S), Union Ministers Veerappa Moily (Cong) and Srikant Jena, Supriya Sule and Lalu Prasad's eldest daughter Misa Bharti are in the fray.
Viewed as a high stakes day by both BJP and its allies, which hold 46 seats and Congress and its partners having 43 seats, today's polling may decide which party will lead the race to form the next government.
In Uttar Pradesh, over 27.44 per cent voters exercised their franchise till 11 AM. Polling is going on on 11 seats in the second phase to decide fate of 150 candidates, including Maneka Gandhi, Santosh Gangwar, Saleem Sherwani and Begum Noor Bano.
In Karnataka, voting began on a moderate to brisk note in the single-phase elections for all the 28 Lok Sabha seats.
Former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa (Shimoga) and Moily (Chikkaballapur) were among the early voters, as voting began with about 4.62 crore voters eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 435 candidates.
BJP has lodged a complaint with electoral officials against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleging that he had violated the model code of conduct.
Barring reports of Naxal violence in some places in Jharkhand, polling has been peaceful, poll officials said.
An estimated 12.74 per cent voters exercised their franchise till 9 AM in the second phase of polling for six Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand.
Passenger train services were hit in Bokaro district where Maoists blew up a stretch of railway track.
The rebels damaged the tracks between Dania railway station in Bokaro and Jageshwar station of Bihar under South Eastern Railway, Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Singh said.
