Long queues outside polling booths in Sikkim

GANGTOK - Long queues were seen outside booths as polling began for one Lok Sabha and 32 assembly constituencies in the Himalayan state of Sikkim Thursday.

The situation was peaceful with no reports of any untoward incidents, police said.

There were more women than men in the queues which started forming even before the polling centres opened at 7 a.m. Young voters, many of them exercising their franchise for the first time, were also seen lining up with great enthusiasm.

At the Paljor Nangyal Girls Senior Secondary school booth in Gangtok, polling started late due to the malfunctioning of the electronic voting machine for the Lok Sabha.

The ruling Sikkim Democratic Front and the opposition Congress are the main contestants in the elections.