Amethi, a stronghold of India's governing Congress party, is among 64 seats voting in the eighth phase of the mammoth general election.

The seat, held by party leader Rahul Gandhi, has been at the centre of a row after the main opposition BJP's candidate for PM held a rally there.

Narendra Modi blamed the Gandhi dynasty for Amethi's "backwardness" and said he wanted to change it.

A 97-year-old man, among India's oldest voters, has also voted on Wednesday.

Shyam Saran Negi, a retired teacher in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, has voted in every single election since 1951 - when India held its first general election after gaining independence from British rule.

On Wednesday morning, Mr Negi visited the polling centre along with his wife in Kalpa village. He was presented a shawl and a garland by officials.

With 814 million eligible voters, India's election is the world's biggest exercise in democracy and the governing Congress party is battling the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for power. Mr Modi is ahead in all the opinion polls.

Tight security
Uttar Pradesh, where Amethi is located, returns more MPs than any other and is often described as India's battleground state.

Long queues had formed outside most polling stations within hours of their opening, BBC Hindi's Nitin Srivastava reported from Amethi.

Kamlesh Kumari, 39, returned from her parents' home in Gorakhpur on Tuesday because she did not want to miss voting. "I missed voting in the 2012 assembly election because I was expecting my third child, but this time I made it a point to be in the village on this day to vote," she said.

Authorities in the high-profile seat held by Rahul Gandhi are taking no chances with security and a large number of police and paramilitaries are deployed in the town and on its borders with the neighbouring districts of Sultanpur and Lucknow, our correspondent adds.

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