Indian badminton player Jwala Gutta voted on Monday during the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha Elections in Hyderabad. She is one of several prominent personalities who voted in the Telangana capital on Monday.
She later posted photos with her parents where the family is seen with inked fingers. She wrote, "Vote is our right. Vote is our duty."
Gutta has represented India in numerous tournaments and has a remarkable record of winning 316 matches, including women's doubles and mixed. In 2011, she was conferred with the Arjuna Award.
Other big names seen voting in Hyderabad were actor Naga Chaitanya, who cast his vote in Jubilee Hills.
Oscar-winning music composer M.M. Keeravani also cast his vote during the fourth phase. After voting, the Padma Shri awardee spoke with the media and urged citizens to exercise their voting rights. He said, "You have to vote because you are in a democracy."
Among the early birds who arrived at a polling booth were Allu Arjun and Junior NTR. Megastar Chiranjeevi, along with his wife Surekha Konidela, also cast their votes.
Director and screenwriter S.S. Rajamouli, in a post on X, said that he flew in from Dubai to vote along with his wife Rama Rajamouli.
On Monday, polling commenced in 96 constituencies across 10 states and Union territories for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. A total of 1,717 candidates are in the fray in the Lok Sabha seats and more than 19 lakh polling officials have been deployed at 1.92 lakh polling stations for over 17.70 crore eligible voters, including 8.73 crore women.
Polling is being held in all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, all 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh, 13 in Uttar Pradesh, five in Bihar, four in Jharkhand, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, four in Odisha, eight in West Bengal and one in Jammu and Kashmir.
This is the first major election in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.