At a polling booth in Chennai
Polling is on in round six of the nine-phase general elections, with important battles being fought across the country today.
(India Votes 2014: coverage)Tamil Nadu votes for all 39 seats and the southern state expects to play a crucial role in government formation at the Centre in faraway Delhi next month.
(Also Read: In Tamil Nadu, a daddy, lady and Modi in final election speeches)Also voting are 19 constituencies in Maharashtra, including six in Mumbai, a city that has been challenged to lift its dismal record of a very poor voter turnout. This year, much of Bollywood is away in the US for an award ceremony.
(Mumbai votes today, but many star citizens will not)Stakes are high today for both the ruling Congress and the BJP that hopes to unseat it. Of the 117 seats where polling is on, the Congress has 37, the BJP 24.
(Phase six: Top 10 contests today)Many seats are held by regional powerhouses like the AIADMK and DMK in Tamil Nadu, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Shiv Sena in Maharshtra and the Samjawadi Party and Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal in Uttar Pradesh, where 12 constituencies are voting.
(Phase six: top heavyweights)Mulayam Singh's family, including son and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, voted in Saifai in Etawah district, Uttar Pradesh. His Samajwadi Party holds five of the seats polling today, including Mr Yadav's seat Mainpuri. The Rashtriya Lok Dal holds two seats, the Congress three.
The BJP had won only Agra last time, but hopes to change those numbers.
In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is attempting another reversal.
(Also Read: Now trending, Jayalalithaa vs Narendra Modi)In 2009, M Karunanidhi's DMK had won 18 seats and her AIADMK only nine. This time Ms Jayalalithaa is counting on a big haul to give her leverage at the Centre if no alliance gets a majority.
The BJP, which has cobbled together a rainbow coalition of six parties, is attempting to break the stranglehold of the DMK and AIADMK.
Seven constituencies in Bihar vote today, four in Jharkhand, five in Rajasthan and six in Assam, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who represents the state in the Rajya Sabha, and his wife Gursharan Kaur will vote today.
In Jammu and Kashmir, polling is being held in the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat.
(Also Read: Terror shadow over Kashmir polls)Big names in the fray include the BJP's Sushma Swaraj in Vidisha, DMK leader A Raja in the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav from Mainpuri in UP and Union minister Salman Khurshid from Farrukhabad in UP.