New Delhi:
Braving summer heat, an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the voters turned up during the first four hours of polling on Wednesday for the fifth and final phase of Lok Sabha elections which was by and large peaceful.
Two scribes of private TV channels were injured when they were allegedly attacked by activists of ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) at Duneke village on the outskirts of Moga town when they recorded footage of party workers carrying weapons in vehicles, police sources said.
One person was killed early this morning in a clash between Trinamool Congress activists and CPM cadre at Baliguri on the outskirts of Kolkata, before the polling began.
While Tamil Nadu recorded 22 per cent of voting till 11:00 am, Uttar Pradesh registered 21 per cent, Puducherry 25 per cent, Punjab, West Bengal and Uttarakhand 15-20 per cent each, Himachal Pradesh 12 -15 per cent, Chandigarh 18 per cent and Jammu and Kashmir six per cent.
Prominent candidates in the fray include Home Minister P Chidambaram, DMK's T R Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran and M K Azhagiri, Congress' Md Azharuddin, BJP's Maneka and Varun Gandhi and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, MDMK's Vaiko and SP's Jayaprada.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, CPM leader Brinda Karat, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa were some of the early voters.