Mumbai: All preparations have been done for the first phase Lok Sabha election to be held on Friday (April 19) in Nagpur, Ramtak,Bandhara-Gondia, Chandrapur, and Gadchiroli Lok Sabha constituencies in the Vidharbha region.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) reports 97 candidates are contesting in this phase, with their fate determined by 95.54 lakh registered voters, including 48.28 lakh males, 47.26 lakh females, and 347 transgender individuals.
The ECI has established 10,652 polling stations, including 21,527 ballot units, 13,963 control units, and 14,755 VVPAT machines.
To ensure law and order, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) units have been stationed at sensitive polling centers. In the Gadchiroli-Chimur constituency, voting will occur from 7 AM to 3 PM.
The contestants included BJP senior leader Nitin Gadkari, State cabinet minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, Sunil Mendhe, Ashok Nete, Prabha Dhanorkar (Congress), Dr Prashant Padole, Congress nominee Dr Namdev Kirsan, Shyamkumar Barwe, Shiv Sena candidate Raju Parwe, and VBA candidate Kishor Gajbhiye from Ramtek. They were prominent in their respective constituencies.
Several state leaders, including BJP national president J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge, MPCC president Nana Patole, and other leaders, attended election rallies during the campaigning period to support their party candidates.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the region, particularly in these five districts, to ensure smooth conduct of the elections.
So far, the areas have remained peaceful, and no considerably untoward incident was reported from these five districts during the campaigning, the police sources said.
