Phase 1 of the Lok Sabha Elections began on April 19. The first round covers 102 constituencies across 21 states and UTs.
More than 16.63 crore voters are eligible to vote in the first round. These include 35.67 lakh first-time voters. Around 14.14 lakh voters are aged above 85 while 13.89 lakh are persons with disabilities.
Around 8.4 crore are male voters and 8.23 crore are female voters while 11,371 are third-gender voters.
A total of 1,625 candidates are contesting in the first phase. Of these, 1,491 are male and 134 are female.
Around 18 lakh election officials have been deployed across 1.87 lakh booths to ensure smooth voting process. There are 361 observers representing the ECI, including 127 general observers, 67 police observers and 167 expenditure observers.
Over 50% of the polling stations will have webcasting facility. The poll panel has also deployed 41 helicopters, 84 special trains and around one lakh vehicles.