Voting underway for phase 1 of 2019 Lok Sabha elections: Highlights

* The Congress is hoping to defend seven seats that it won in 2014 and is looking for major gains in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
* Congress leader Renuka Chowdary (Khammam), AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad), state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy (Nalgonda) and daughter of TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, are among the prominent candidates.
* In Andhra Pradesh, strong anti-incumbency, caste and corruption are the major factors that could determine the outcome of the elections to Lok Sabha and the state assembly as over 3.93 crore voters get to exercise their franchise. This is the first general election in the state after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
* Polling for all 25 Lok Sabha and 175 assembly seats is held simultaneously. There are 2,118 candidates for the state polls and 319 for the Lok Sabha elections
* TDP chief and CM N Chandrababu Naidu is seeking election from Kuppam, while his son Nara Lokesh is making his electoral debut from Mangalagiri.
* YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, an aspirant for the CM's post, is fighting from his family's pocket borough Pulivendula.
* In 2014, the TDP won 101, YSRC 68, BJP four, Navodayam Party one and an Independent one in the state polls. In Lok Sabha seats, the TDP bagged 15, YSRC eight and BJP two.
* All 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana are going to polls in phase-one.
* The Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency is a special case as 185 candidates, including over 170 farmers, are in the fray.
* In Uttar Pradesh on eight seats the ruling BJP clashes with the newly-formed SP-BSP-RLD alliance.
* In Muzaffarnagar, RLD chief Ajit Singh takes on BJP's Sanjeev Balyan. His son Jayant Chaudhary is fielded against Union minister Satyapal Singh in Baghpat.
* Seven Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra are going to polls, with Union Minister Gadkari locked in a battle with Congress's Nana Patole, a former BJP MP. Union minister and BJP leader, Hansaraj Ahir is seeking a fourth term from Chandrapur.
* In Bihar, four Lok Sabha seats are open for polling. LJP leader Chirag Paswan is contesting from Jamui reserved seat. He is the sitting MP and is locked in a virtual straight contest with Bhudeo Chaudhary of RLSP.
* In the North East, of the two seats in Arunachal Pradesh Union Minister Rijiju is seeking re-election from Arunachal West.
* Five seats in Assam are going to polls, with former CM Tarun Gogoi's son Gaurav Gogoi testing poll waters from Kaliabor.
* In Chhattisgarh where one Lok Sabha seat, Bastar, is going to polls, security has been tightened following a Naxal attack in the constituency's Dantewada area on Tuesday. A BJP leader and four security personnel were killed.
* Sixty lakh voters in Odisha are exercising their franchise in the first phase of polls for four Lok Sabha and 28 assembly seats.
* The remaining six phases will be held on April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19. Counting will be done on May 23.
(With inputs from PTI)