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The polls closed during the first phase of the gigantic legislative elections in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants a second term.
The first phase involved an electorate of 142 million voters on Thursday in 20 states and federal territories, who will decide the fate of 91 candidates. Nearly 900 million of India's 1.3 billion people have the right to vote.
The Electoral Commission said the turnout was over 60% Thursday.
Voters traveled in large numbers to an eastern district where Maoist rebels were accused of bombing a bomb on Tuesday, which killed a legislator of the Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata (BJP) and four government officials. Security.
In the state of Andhra Pradesh, in the south of the country, a supporter of the ruling Telugu Desam party, died during a clash in front of a polling station.
Raziul Nasir, 53, an accountant in a construction company, said worries about the future of his children would determine his vote. "All I want is people who spread hatred to be defeated," Nasir told Al Jazeera.
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| Raziul Nasir said he wanted "people who spread hate to be defeated". [Nadim Asrar/Al Jazeera] |
Naresh Kumar, a 43-year-old elector from Bishada village of Dadri, in the constituency of Gautam Buddha Nagar, said he wanted the BJP back. Bishada witnessed the first Indian lynching linked to the cow in 2015, which caused an uproar.
"Modi did a lot of work," Kumar, who works for the National Thermal Power Corporation in Dadri, told Al Jazeera.
Sachin Tyagi, owner of a mobile phone shop in Uttar Pradesh, said Modi had "improved the overall position of India and took revenge on the enemies of the country".
"I am satisfied with Modi-ji but the employment situation could be improved," he said.
Nadim Asrar, of the Al Jazeera newspaper, based in Noida, a suburb of New Delhi, said voters were coming slowly.
"There is a slow but steady thread of voters in a polling booth of a Noida neighborhood, a middle clbad." Security personnel monitor the doors of a community center where the polls take place. "
Eight constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh saw more than 11% of the vote before 9:00.
Shailendra Pratap Singh, a magistrate from Ghaziabad's additional district, neighbor of Noida, told Al Jazeera that the vote was proceeding smoothly in the constituency.
"Generally, the vote is fast in the morning or between 16 and 18 hours," he said.
Two people were also killed Tuesday in Indian-administered Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim region, urging the authorities to further enhance security.
Stores and schools closed in Kashmir, roads clear of traffic after separatists called an election strike
Modi, 68, is the favorite, but he faces a daunting challenge from opposition party leader Rahul Gandhi, who has attempted to capitalize on the Modi government's poor record in Employment and rural poverty.
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Due to the vastness of India, elections are held in seven phases, from tea plantations in Darjeeling to slums of Mumbai to the tropical Andaman Islands, in between. The elections will end on May 19th. The results will be announced on May 23rd.
More than 11 million electoral agents, including security forces, will be deployed in one million polling stations to conduct "the largest management event of all types".
Modi and his far-right party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014 with their famous promise of "achhe din" (good days), becoming the first party to win an absolute majority in 30 years.
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| The first phase concerns an electorate of 142 million voters in 20 states [Amarjeet Kumar Singh/Al Jazeera] |
"Nationalism is our inspiration and our inclusion, and good governance is our mantra," said Modi, whose bearded, stern face dominates ubiquitous posters at the launch of his manifesto.
Rahul Gandhi, 48, hoping to become the last Prime Minister of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty – and helped by his sister Priyanka – accused Modi of provoking a "national disaster".
The Gandhi Congress party took advantage of voters' dissatisfaction, winning three key elections in December, enrolling in the Modi support base in the heart of North India, Hindi.
"Vote for Congress, vote for you," Congress said on Twitter, promising more jobs and "love versus hate".
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