The process for the Lok Sabha election was set in motion on Wednesday with President A P J Abdul Kalam issuing a notification for the first phase of polling scheduled for April 20 and covering 141 constituencies.

The first phase covers Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Chhattisgarh and portions of Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam and Manipur.

Notifications have also been issued by governors for 147 out of 294 seats in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, 120 of 224 seats in Karnataka and 77 of the 147 seats in Orissa.

Nominations for the constituencies going to polls in the first phase will close on March 31 and withdrawal of candidatures will be on April 3 and 5.

Apart from a thousand observers who will monitor the polls across the country, the Election Commission has for the first time decided to appoint special observers in some states.

Jammu and Kashmir is the only state where polling will be held in four phases. Baramulla and Jammu will go to polls on April 20, Srinagar on April 26, Anantnag on May 5 and Ladakh and Udhampur on May 10.