Voting has begun across seven states in India in the final phase of the elections, with the fate of several heavyweights including Prime Minister Narendra Modi being decided today.
As many as 918 candidates, including Shatrughan Sinha, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sunny Deol and Kirron Kher will take the electoral test today.
On voting day, Modi took to Twitter to urge people to "vote in record numbers".
"Your one vote will shape India's development trajectory in the years to come. I also hope first-time voters vote enthusiastically," he wrote.
Modi is seeking a second term in Varanasi from where he won the 2014 election by a huge margin. The Congress has again fielded Ajay Rai, who finished third in 2014 with only 75,000 votes.
In West Bengal, the polling is taking place in the shadow of the violence that forced the Election Commission to end campaigning 20 hours before the scheduled time.
China on Friday launched an uncrewed spacecraft on a nearly two-month mission to retrieve rocks and soil from the far side of the moon, the first country to make such an ambitious attempt.
Police forcibly removed scores of defiant pro-Palestinian protesters at several colleges on Thursday, including taking down an encampment at UCLA in a jarring scene that underscored the heightened chaos that has erupted at universities this week.
The Indonesian government will permanently relocate almost 10,000 residents after a series of explosive eruptions of the Ruang volcano has raised concerns about the dangers of residing on the island in future, a minister said on Friday.
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck off the island province of Leyte in central Philippines on Friday, with damage and aftershocks expected, its seismology agency said.
Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi will contest the general election from the family bastion in the north, his Congress party announced on Friday, a move that will challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a region he dominates.