General Elections for 17th Lok Sabha to begin on 11 Apr

By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 9 Apr: The general elections to constitute the first Lok Sabha of independent India took place in 1951-52. Shyam Saran Negi (100) of the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh became the first voter to cast his vote.
The first phase of general election to the 17th Lok Sabha will be conducted on 11 April. As many as 91 Parliamentary Constituencies from 20 states and UTs will take part in voting in this phase. Uttarakhand will go for polling in the first phase of the general election.
The electorate of Uttarakhand elects five members to the Lok Sabha from Almora-Pithoragarh, Haridwar, Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri-Garhwal. Out of these the Almora-Pithoragarh Lok Sabha seat has been reserved as SC seat in the state.
The voter turnout in the last general election in 2014 had been 61.7%., which was among the bottom five polling percentages in Indian states. The total number of registered voters is 78,54,023 (40,539,44-Men, 37,112,20 – Women). Women constitute 47.25% of the total pool along with 259 transgender voters and 37,336 voters with disabilities. Out of these 724084 have been added to the electoral rolls since 2014 and 85,673 are first-time voters of 18-19-year age group. A total of 88,600 are service voters, which constitute 1.12% of the total voters and may play a crucial role in voting pattern. A total number of 11,235 booths have been set up out of these 1532 are sensitive/hypersensitive. A total of 52 candidates are in the fray including five women candidates. There is no woman candidate contesting election from Pauri Garhwal and Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar Lok Sabha seats.