This Article is From Apr 17, 2014

Today was India's biggest voting day: 10 facts

Today was India's biggest voting day: 10 facts

Voting today was held in states including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

New Delhi: Today was the largest single day of voting in the five-week national election.

Here is your 10-point cheat-sheet to this story:

  1. Voters lined up at 7:00 am in 121 constituencies across 12 states. Of the total 81.5 crore people eligible to vote, nearly 16.6 crore made their choice today.  (121 seats across 12 states vote in biggest round of Lok Sabha election)

  2. 45 of the 121 seats that were decided today are with the Congress and its allies; the BJP and its allies hold 47. (Elections 2014: Full Coverage)

  3. Voting today was held in states including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, which are all voting in phases. India has now voted for 232 of 543 parliamentary seats.

  4. All of Karnataka's 28 seats were decided today. 

  5. Voter turnout in most states was higher than in the last national election in 2009, according to the Election Commission.

  6. Among the mega battles today was the election in South Bangalore where Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is running against the BJP's Ananth Kumar, a five-time parliamentarian. (10 big fights: featuring Nandan Nilekani, Lalu's daughter)

  7. The key polling day comes after the Gandhis, who lead the Congress, cranked up the rhetoric in a bid to claw back support from Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. 

  8. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, daughter Priyanka and son Rahul are all on the campaign trail and have pitched Mr Modi as a danger to India's social fabric. Mrs Gandhi alleged in a speech yesterday that he represents a "dangerous combination of religious fanaticism, power and money". (Watch: This will be BJP's best performance and Congress' worst, says Modi)

  9. Mr Modi, 63, has been wooing voters by promising to get India out of its slowest economic growth in a decade and by pointing to his track record of cutting red tape and attracting investment in his four terms as chief minister of Gujarat.

  10. Amid allegations by detractors that the BJP has spot-lit him too heavily in its campaign, allowing him to overshadow the party, Mr Modi in an interview yesterday said all decisions about his career are taken by the party, and not by him. "I worked as backroom boy (for the party) for many years," he said. (Watch: This will be BJP's best performance and Congress' worst, says Modi)



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