12:50 pm: Over 26% polling till 12 noon

ANI reports that 26.96 per cent electorate in the Telangana region had exercised their right to cast votes by 12 noon.

11:00 am: Brisk polling in initial hours

Brisk polling was reported in parts of Telangana in the initial hours of election today.

Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal told reporters that "by 9 am, 15.3 per cent voters had cast their ballots. The polling is going on peacefully at all the polling stations."

Lal said Mahabubnagar district recorded the highest percentage of 17.1 in the first two hours while Hyderabad recorded lowest 10.4 per cent voter turnout among the 10 districts where polling is going on.

Among the early voters were Union Minister and AP Congress Campaign Committee chairman K Chiranjeevi, film actors Pawan Kalyan, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh and Nandamuri Balakrishna, badminton star Saina Nehwal and DGP B Prasada Rao.

10:30 am: Technical snag in EVMs delays polling

Technical snag in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) led to delay in start of the polling at some polling centres.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Bhanwarlal told reporters that some EVMs received from Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Hyderabad were in factory mode and the polling staff was unable to use them.

He, however, said such EVMs were being replaced in 20 minutes to half-an-hour as every district has 2,000 EVMs in reserve.

"There is a small technical snag in new EVMs. They are in factory mode and they have to be sent back to the factory but we have sufficient number of machines for immediate replacement," he said.

The election authorities are using 100,000 EVMs. The CEO said these were new machines which arrived two days ago from ECIL and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

Live Election polling 2014 till 12 noon in Telangana
10:00 am: Voter tells Chiranjeevi to stand in queue

Indian politicians' VIP mindset was on display again on Wednesday when Congress leader Chiranjeevi tried to jump the queue outside a polling booth in Andhra Pradesh.

Chiranjeevi, who had come to the polling booth to cast his vote, tried to enter the premises even though there were a number of people waiting in queue outside.

He was then asked by a voter standing in queue, as per ANI, “Do you need special treatment?”

Soon after, others waiting for their turn at the polling center applauded Kartik who told Chiranjeevi to go to the back of the line.

“I respect him, but he should follow the queue. He is not over 65 or disabled,” Kartik told reporters later.

“I never violate rules. I had just left the queue to see if my name is there in the voting list,” Chiranjeevi said in his defence, blaming the media for overreacting.

9:15 am: First-time voters enthusiastic about polling

Enthusiasm was writ large on people's faces as they queued up at polling stations since 7 am today to exercise their franchise.

A group of youngsters was the first to reach the polling station at City Central Library under Musheerabad Assembly constituency in Hyderabad to cast votes for the first time.

"It's thrilling," exclaimed Pratyusha, an engineering student, after she got her right index finger inked upon casting her first vote.

State Governor ESL Narasimhan and his spouse Vimala Narasimhan reached the Raj Nagar polling station at MS Maktha, opposite the Raj Bhavan, to cast their votes.

State Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal cast his vote at the polling station at IAS Officers Colony.

8:00 am: Polling underway in Telangana region

Weeks ahead of its planned bifurcation, Andhra Pradesh is holding the first phase of simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections on Wednesday.

Polling is being held for 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 state Assembly seats in the Telangana region today.

Among the key contestants on Parliamentary seats going to polls are Union Ministers S Jaipal Reddy, Sarve Satyanarayana and Balram Naik, Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, Lok Satta Party chief Jayaprakash Narayan and Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi.

Leading candidates for Assembly constituencies include TRS chief Rao, Congress' Telangana unit president Ponnala Lakshmaiah, working president Uttam Kumar Reddy, former deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, and former state ministers Geeta Reddy and D Sridhar Babu.

Polling is being held at 30,574 polling booths today, with 265 candidates in the fray for the Lok Sabha and 1,669 for the Assembly seats.

Over 28.17 million electors are eligible to exercise their franchise.

In three out of the 10 left-wing extremism-affected Assembly constituencies in the region, polling will be held till 4 pm while in the other seven it will conclude at 5 pm. In the remaining 109 segments, polling will end at 6 pm, according to the Chief Electoral Officer.

Four helicopters of the Indian Air Force have been stationed in districts for contingencies even as a strong posse of 90,000 police and para-military personnel has been deployed in ten districts of Telangana to oversee security.
Live Election polling 2014 till 12 noon in Telangana
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"I consider myself extremely blessed & fortunate to be a voter in Advaniji's Parliamentary Constituency. Urging all those voting in 89 Lok Sabha seats across India to vote in record numbers today! Hope my young friends show the way in doing so," Modi Tweeted before casting his vote.

Modi's mother Heeraben also cast her vote in Gandhinagar in the morning.

Advani, whose sudden wish to contest from Bhopal had caused some unease in the party, is a candidate for capital Gandhinagar. In the 2009 elections, the BJP had won 17 seats and the Congress nine.

In Bihar, as much as 25.93% polling was recorded in the seven seats going to the polls in the fourth phase of elections in the state.

TV reports said that polling at two booths in Begusarai had to be stopped after it was discovered that "wrong EVMs" had been sent there.

In the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, 14% of the voters had cast their votes till 9 am when reports last came in.

In Telangana, polling is being held for the first phase of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Andhra Pradesh assembly. Voting is being held in 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 assembly seats.

In Uttar Pradesh, where polling is being held in 14 seats, the polling percentage till 11am was 24.78.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati -- trying to emerge as a king-maker or, perhaps, even the 'queen' -- was among the early voters in Lucknow.

However, BJP candidate from Jhansi Uma Bharti could not vote as she was down with high fever and severe throat infection. Bharti is a voter in Lucknow.

Amid tight security arrangements, polling in the 14 constituencies in central UP and Bundlekhand started at 7am.

Even before the polling started at 25,485 polling stations, people had queued up outside to exercise their franchise.

With the presidents of two national parties -- Sonia Gandhi (Congress) and Rajnath Singh (BJP) -- contesting from Rai Bareli and Lucknow respectively, the stakes are high for both the parties.

While Sonia Gandhi is seeking re-election for the third time from her traditional constituency, Rajnath Singh has laid claim on the legacy of BJP stalwart Atal Behari Vajpayee from Lucknow.

In Punjab, where polling is being held in all 13 seats on a single day, Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) workers clashed in Moga village leaving 7 persons injured. Details were not available.

The polling percentage till 11am was 25 in the state.

One of the most keenly-watched contests in the state is in Amritsar between BJP leader Arun Jaitley and former Punjab chief minister and Congress candidate Capt Amarinder Singh.

The stakes are very high for the ruling SAD which has four seats and is locked in a bitter contest with Congress.

In Srinagar, however, only 13.53% votes had been cast till 11am.

The key Srinagar seat features Union minister and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, father of chief minister Omar Abdullah.

A big fight erupted between the Abdullahs and Modi in the run-up to voting day over secularism and Article 370 (which grants special status to the state) of the Constitution. The BJP's stated position is it will scrap Article 370 if it comes to power.

Election authorities rescheduled the duration for polling in Srinagar from
7am to 5pm instead of 7am to 6pm.

Official sources said the decision was taken keeping in view the law and order problems that took place in Anantnag Lok Sabha seat which went to polls on April 24.

The fight in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is for one seat each. Both seats are with the BJP in the outgoing Lok Sabha.

In the seventh phase, nearly 140 million voters will have their say.

After phase 7, polling will end for 438 of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats, leaving 105 to be decided in two phases in May.

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