Politicians continue to file nominations as general election kicks off

Intensifying the political fervour, veteran leaders filed nominations in their respective constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab on Monday.

Senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Arun Jaitley, filed his nomination from Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab.

Continuing its tirade against ruling Congress party, Jaitley endorsed his party's manifesto, which was released earlier in the day, as an election document for reconstruction.

"The last few years have seen central government at its worst. The state of the economy is in a mess, national security is very fragile, credibility of government has been destroyed, leadership is seen to be meek and very poor, problems have continued to prolong, the farm sector is in a very bad shape. Now the manifesto is really a manifesto for national reconstruction. Our object is that once we are voted into power, which we hope the Indian electorate will give a very responsible verdict in our favour, we have to really rebuild the country in all these areas. The last one decade has been a wasted opportunity and therefore, we have a lot of ground to cover," Jaitley said.

Jaitley will be contesting against Congress candidate Captain Amarinder Singh.

On the other hand, Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah, filed his nomination from Srinagar constituency in Jammu and Kashmir and was accompanied by his son and state chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah.

In Srinagar and Punjab, voting will be held on April 30.

The world's biggest election has kicked off in the biggest democracy of India, with majority of voters, experts, and key players citing economic growth, clean governance and women's safety as key issues in a vote that would decide the fate of over 1.2 billion people.