- By Abhirupa Kundu
- Fri, 19 Apr 2024 01:08 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Uttarakhand Lok Sabha Election 2024 Updates: Women of Uttarakhand from all age groups including newly married brides, the elderly, and even three generation of women from the same family on Friday cast their votes as polling was conducted for all five Lok Sabha seats on April 19. The constituencies of Tehri Garhwal, Garhwal, Almora, Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar and Haridwar witnessed the electoral process in full fervour.
'Nari Shakti' was displayed in full fervour as three generations of female Prabha Sharma, her daughter Preeti Kaushik, and granddaughters Shamita Kaushik and Sakshi Kaushik - voted together at a polling booth in Dehradun on Friday. In another instance, volunteers assisted the elderly voters in reaching the polling booths in Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand.
Meanwhile, newly married brides where not far behind, they came to the polling booths donning traditional attire and jewellery, worn for their wedding ceremony. One bride who cast her vote told mediapersons that she got married last night and before leaving for her in-laws house she had come to cast vote.
"It is important to cast your votes because we as younger generations are responsible to elect a new government. The voter turnout should be 100 per cent," the newly wed bride dressed in red saree and gold jewellery voiced.
A newly wed couple cast their vote at a polling booth in Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand. (Photo credit: ANI)
Uttarakhand witnessed a voter turnout of 24.83 percent till 11 am in the morning. In Uttarakhand, the key candidates include former chief minister and BJP candidate Trivendra Singh Rawat, contesting from the Haridwar constituency against Virender Rawat of the Congress and Ajay Tamta in Almora who is pitted against Congress' Pradeep Tamta.
The voting across 11,729 polling stations began at 7 am and will go on till 5 pm, they said. Apart from 40,000 police, home guard and Prantiya Raksha Dal personnel, 65 companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed to ensure free and fair polling in the state.
Candidates from the Bahujan Samaj Party, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and relatively smaller outfits and Independents are also in the fray. Still, straight contests are likely between traditional rivals, the BJP and the Congress, in all the seats. The BJP won all five seats in the state in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.