Cong leader P Chidambaram casts his vote in Sivaganga, says INDIA bloc will win all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: "Absolutely confident" that the INDIA bloc will win all 39 parliamentary seats in Tamil Nadu, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said after casting his vote here on Friday morning. The former union minister's son, Karti Chidambaram, is the Congress' sitting MP from Sivaganga and he is pitted against the BJP's Devanathan Yadav and A Xavier of the AIADMK.

"I am very happy and proud that I have been able to cast my vote in the Lok Sabha elections. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, I am absolutely confident that the INDIA group will win all 39 Parliamentary seats in Tamil Nadu. This is the first phase of elections, there are seven phases. Today all of Tamil Nadu votes and I am absolutely confident that we will win all seats," P Chidambaram told ANI. Voting is underway for all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu in the first phase of the general elections.

Voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 began on Friday across 102 parliamentary constituencies spread over 21 states and Union Territories as the mega seven-phase electoral exercise commenced at 7:00 am. Voters will exercise their franchise until 6:00 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking his third consecutive term, while the opposition bloc-INDIA- a coalition of opposing parties formed to take on the BJP in the general elections, is eyeing to oust him from power. In the 2019 general elections, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, comprising the Congress, VCK, MDMK, CPI, CPI(M), IUML, MMK, KMDK, TVK, and AIFB, registered a landslide victory, winning 38 of the 39 seats in the state. The second phase will be held on April 26 and the remaining phases will be May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1 accordingly. The last general elections in 2019 were also held in seven phases.