(26 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh – 26 April 2024
1. Wide of voter voting and polling officers monitoring
2. Mid of a voter casting his vote
3. Voter leaves after casting his vote
4. Wide of voters going to the polling station
5. Various of voters standing in queues to cast their vote at a polling station
6. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Gaurav Kumar, student:
“Despite gaining education, our youth remains unemployed. This education is not benefiting us. Price rise in petrol, diesel and cooking gas cylinder is hurting us.”
7. Various of people standing in long queues, waiting for their turn to cast vote
8. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Adnan Khan, student:
“We would vote for a leader who is unbiased and doesn’t believe in discrimination. We want someone who can uphold the constitutional rights of the public. We don’t care for any political party, we are voting to strengthen democracy.”
9. Wide of an elderly woman being escorted to a polling station by man
10. Elderly woman showing her inked finger after casting her vote
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Noida, Uttar Pradesh – 26 April 2024
11. Wide of security checking IDs before voters enter polling station
12. Mid of security
13. Various of voters entering polling station
14. Election official applying ink mark on a voter’s finger, voter walking towards voting compartment to cast her vote
15. Close of finger being inked
16. Election official checking a voter’s name
17. Mid of people waiting as their names are checked
18. Mid of finger being inked, woman walking towards voting compartment to vote
19. Wide of a woman waiting for her relatives to vote
20. Close of her inked finger
STORYLINE:
Millions of Indians began voting on Friday in the second round of multi-phase national elections as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to galvanize voters with his assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics.
People lined up outside polling stations as voting opened at 7 a.m.
Turnout was expected to pick up as the day progresses.
The outcome of Friday’s voting will be crucial for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, as the 88 constituencies up for grabs across 13 states include some of its strongholds in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Most polls predict a win for Modi and the BJP, which is up against a broad opposition alliance led by the Indian National Congress and powerful regional parties.
Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi is running in Wayanad constituency in southern Kerala state for a second time, after he was defeated in 2019 elections by Smriti Irani, a BJP leader, in the northern Indian city of Amethi — a traditional stronghold for the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Other prominent candidates in the second phase of voting include Shashi Tharoor of the Congress party, popular BJP Bollywood star Hema Malini and actor Arun Govil, who played the role of Hinduism’s revered Lord Ram in a 1987 television adaptation of the ancient epic Ramayana.
Prime Minister Modi urged people to vote in record numbers to strengthen democracy.
The BJP has already won one parliamentary seat from Surat in Gujarat state, where the Congress party candidate was disqualified Monday.
Election officials said they found discrepancies in the signatures on the nomination and other candidates pulled out of the contest, leaving BJP nominee Mukesh Dalal as the winner by default.
The votes will be counted on June 4. There are a total of 28 states in India.
AP video shot by Piyush Nagpal and Shonal Ganguly
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7c585e9fda2849dcb4a42e3254cec1d5
