BBC correspondents from around India catch the mood among voters on the first day of the country's general elections.
SANJOY MAJUMDER, HYDERABAD, ANDHRA PRADESH
At the Chacha Nehru Park, early morning joggers wiped the sweat off their faces as they crossed the road to Polling Station 23.
Shivanna a homeless man: 'Who's in power now?'
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Software engineer Ranga Rao came early with his sister.
"It's been a while since I've voted," he says with a smile. "It's a good feeling."
Like many of the other middle-class Indian voters in the queue, Ranga wants India's economy to continue to improve.
A few kilometres away is Murad Nagar, in Hyderabad's Muslim-dominated old city.
Women in black veils lined up outside a dilapidated school building to vote.
A dirty marble plaque says it was opened by Hyderabad's outgoing MP, Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi. He has gracefully stepped down from the race; his son Asaddudin has taken his place.
Police sub-inspector Samiullah Khan keeps a close watch on the proceedings but permits himself a yawn.
"Very orderly, very peaceful," he pronounces with satisfaction. "Not a single incident of violence. Let's hope it continues."
In the ritzy Banjara Hills, home to Hyderabad's elite, anxious party agents were keeping tabs on the turn-out, ticking names against their voter lists.
Not too many had shown up when I visited, just a few families drawing up in limousines to cast their votes and leave.
A few metres away, outside his filthy tent, Shivanna looks on, bored.
He is homeless and appears on no voter list.
"I voted once, long ago, in my village," he says vaguely. "Who's in power now?"
JYOTSNA SINGH IN BIHAR
There was an eerie silence in most of the villages of Jehanabad, an area of the northern state of Bihar considered a stronghold of Maoist rebels.
Bihar villagers showed little urgency to vote
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The rebels had called for a vote boycott - it seemed to be working.
For most of the villagers, it was business as usual, with men and women busy harvesting on the farms.
Groups of people in the village of Mundher congregated at an early morning meeting to decide whether they would vote.
"We will not go out unless the Yadavs [considered the more powerful caste group in the villa] take the lead. It is not worth getting killed for voting," one said, voicing the views of other villagers.
Some of the villagers said they wanted to cast their ballots to avoid a "capture" of the polling station by a rival caste group.
But the posters put up by rebel groups warning people against voting seem to have worked.
The fear was writ large on the faces of the government employees roped in for election work.
"We have risked our lives to come and work here. My wife persuaded me not to do election work. But I might have risked losing my job if I had said no," said Ayodhya Mishra, an election worker.
RAJEEV KHANNA, AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT
There was a singular lack of enthusiasm among voters in Gujarat.
Rahi Munshi - 'Life has become unsafe here'
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The two main parties, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress failed to raise issues which directly affected the people in the state.
These include rising unemployment, scarcity of water and a rise in electricity costs for farmers.
None of the parties touched upon the Hindu-Muslim riots of 2002.
Many voters, both Hindus and Muslims, said security was uppermost in their minds when they voted for a party.
"Life has become unsafe here during the last few years. That was in my mind when I cast my vote," said Rahi Munshi, a resident of a Muslim-dominated area of Ahmedabad city.
Chandrakant Solanki, a Hindu resident of Ahmedabad, also echoed the same sentiments.
"We have to live in constant fear of riots erupting over trivial matters. I cast my vote for a candidate who does not belong to the ruling BJP," he said.
There seemed to be a general disenchantment with the existing political parties.
"I am annoyed with politicians distancing themselves from the masses when they are in power," said Chandrakant Solanki.
"Why does not the Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani live amongst us? Why does he have to come in a convoy to caste his vote?" he added.
Another voter Chandu Thakore wanted more people from the middle class and lower classes to join politics.
"They should enter politics to address issues which concern ordinary citizens," said Mr Thakore.
BINOO JOSHI, SUCHETGARH, INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR
For the first time in over a decade, the people of Suchetgarh, a village in the northern Jammu region of Indian-administered Kashmir, voted in peace - thanks to the current ceasefire here between India and Pakistan.
Villagers hope the election will mark a new start for them
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The village is a mere 100 metres from the border with Pakistan, a dividing line marked by barbed wire.
In the small polling station, the mood was unusually relaxed for a border village.
Brita Ram, a 65-year-old farmer and one of the first voters, said he was happy to punch his choice of candidate into the electronic voting machine.
"This election is different. There is no fear of firing from across the border. I feel great," he said.
AYANJIT SEN, DHENKANAL, ORISSA
Sixty-year-old Mongoli Patra, a beggar
arrived at a polling station in Dhenkanal, about 80km (50 miles) from the capital of the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Bhubaneshwar, with a wooden stick to support his frail body.
Beggar Mongoli Patra - a home is his top priority
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He says casting his vote is the only way of being involved in the democratic process.
"I want to elect a leader who will provide some permanent shelter to people like us. It is by God's grace that we at least have got voting rights. Otherwise, in this country, who cares about us?"
Businessman Niraj Kumar Maduli has a down-to-earth view of what he wants from the electoral process. "Forget about lofty promises, water supply in this area is only for an hour a day," he points out.
"I have cast my vote and if that candidate wins, I wish he can solve the water problem," Mr Maduli told the BBC.
"I have asked all my family members and friends to vote for him because I think he can solve this problem."
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