Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, BJP chief in Telangana G Kishan Reddy, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, popular Telugu actors Chiranjeevi, Allu Arjun and Junior NTR were among the prominent persons who exercised their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections in Telangana on Monday.

Venkaiah Naidu, along with his wife, voted at a polling station in Jubilee Hills here. He appealed to citizens to cast their votes.

Kishan Reddy, who cast his vote at Kachiguda here, appealed to the electorate to turn up in large numbers to exercise their franchise.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that the election is a festival of democracy and all voters should take part in it, Kishan Reddy said.

The polling day should not be treated as a holiday, Kishan Reddy said.

Asked by a reporter for his response on the comment that ‘there is no alternative to Modi’, Owaisi said the country is bigger than politicians.

Owaisi is seeking re-election from the party’s bastion- Hyderabad- and is pitted against BJP’s K Madhavi Latha, a political novice, who ran a spirited campaign.

Allu Arjun (of ‘Pushpa’ fame) also urged the electors to exercise their franchise. Junior NTR, a grandson of the legendary N T Rama Rao, also cast his vote.

As many as 625 candidates, including Union Minister and Telangana BJP chief Kishan Reddy, the party national general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar and senior leader Etala Rajender are among the BJP’s candidates while the Congress has fielded among others, BRS turncoats Danam Nagender and K Kavya.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Former vice president M Venkaiah Naidu, founder of Sulabh International Bindeshwar Pathak and a host of other prominent persons were conferred with Padma Awards by President Droupadi Murmu at a ceremonial function held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Monday.

M Venkaiah Naidu, Bindeshwar Pathak, who was given the award posthumously, and renowned Bharatanatyam dancer Padma Subrahmanyam were conferred with the Padma Vibhushan.

Actor Mithun Chakraborty, singer Usha Uthup, former Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik and industrialist Sitaram Jindal were conferred with the Padma Bhushan.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, among others, were present at the function.

Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian honours of the country, are conferred in three categories — Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

The awards are given in various disciplines or fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

The Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service, the Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order and the Padma Shri for distinguished service in any field.

The awards are announced on the eve of Republic Day every year.

For 2024, the President had approved conferment of 132 Padma awards, including two duo cases (in a duo case, the award is counted as one).

The list comprises five Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 110 Padma Shri awards.

As many as 30 of the awardees are women and the list also includes eight people from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and nine posthumous awardees.

While almost half of the awardees were conferred the awards on Monday, the remaining are likely to get them next week.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)