Voting for the legislative assembly elections that began Thursday morning is underway in two key Indian states of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, officials said.

In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the election is being conducted in a single phase, while in the eastern state of West Bengal, the election was planned to be held in two phases.

In both states, voting began at 7:00 a.m. local time on Thursday and will continue until 6:00 p.m.

Authorities in both states have deployed adequate government forces to ensure free and fair elections.