Andhra Pradesh, Odisha assembly elections 2024: Polling underway for 203 seats | Latest updates

Four of 21 Lok Sabha seats and 28 of the 147 assembly segments in Odisha are simultaneously voting on Monday, May 13, the first of the four-phase elections in the state. Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, voting is being held simultaneously in all 175 assembly seats.

Andhra Pradesh is witnessing a triangular contest involving the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), the Congress-led INDIA bloc and the NDA, comprising the BJP, Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP). Follow live updates on Andhra and Odisha assembly elections 2024

In Odisha, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of the Naveen Patnaik, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are contesting in all the constituencies, while nominees of some small and regional parties along with independent candidates are in the fray. Follow full coverage of the Lok Sabha elections 2024

Assembly elections in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh: Top points

1. Odisha assembly elections 2024: There are 243 candidates for the 28 assembly seats.
2. State ministers Jagannath Saraka, Rajendra Dholkia, Odisha Congress chief Sarat Patnaik, and Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das are in the fray in Odisha assembly polls.
3. Congress MLAs Taraprasad Bahinipati and Adhiraj Panigrahi, former chief secretary Bijay Patnaik, ex-minister DS Mishra, former leader of opposition Pradipta Naik, former MLA Ramesh Chandra Chayupattnaik are trying their luck in the Odisha assembly elections.
4. Voting began at 7am on Monday in 7,303 polling stations across the four Lok Sabha seats and their assembly segments and will continue till 6pm.
5. Voting is scheduled to end at 4pm and 5pm in some remote places where Maoist activities are a factor.
6. Altogether 62.87 lakh electors, including 31.89 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first round of the twin polls. The voting process will involve 53,000 polling personnel, with 715 all-women booths and 39 booths to be run by persons with disability.
7. Andhra Pradesh assembly elections 2024: In Andhra Pradesh, the ruling YSRCP is contesting in all 175 assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
8. As part of a seat-sharing deal among NDA partners, the TDP was allocated 144 assembly constituencies while the BJP is contesting from 10 assembly seats. The Janasena will contest 21 assembly seats.
9. YSRCP president and chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (Pulivendla), TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam) and Janasena chief and actor Pawan Kalyan (Pithapuram), among others, are in the assembly poll race.
10. The Andhra chief minister has vowed to develop Amaravati as the legislative capital and Kurnool as the judicial capital. "Immediately after YSRCP forms the government in 2024, Visakhapatnam will be made the executive capital as the seat of the government. It will be developed as the growth engine for the state," Jagan Mohan Reddy said earlier in April. However, the TDP chief came down heavily on YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for his announcement to establish three separate capitals.

(With inputs from agencies)