India's Election Commission has accused the main opposition BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of violating the election code.
He breached poll laws by flashing his party's symbol and making a political speech while voting was going on in the seventh phase of the election, it said.
Mr Modi addressed journalists and supporters after casting his vote in his home state of Gujarat.
India's general election, with 814 million eligible voters, is the world's biggest exercise in democracy and the governing Congress party is battling the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for power. Mr Modi is ahead in all the opinion polls.
He was greeted by cheering crowds lining the streets and on rooftops as he arrived at the polling station in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's biggest city. Voting was held in all 26 seats in the state.
Andhra Pradesh also voted on Wednesday for the last time as a united state before it is divided on 2 June.
Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were among seven states and two union territories where 139 million eligible voters had to make their choice between some 1,300 candidates contesting 89 seats on Wednesday.
In trouble
"The BJP will form a stable government in Delhi soon," Mr Modi said after casting his vote.
"The Congress party has already conceded defeat... It is the end of the mother-son government," he added, in a reference to the Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul.
But photographs of an upbeat Mr Modi holding a small white lotus flower, shown on television screens across India, have landed him in trouble with the Election Commission.
The commission said it had seen the video recordings of Mr Modi's speech and that it was evident that it was "a political speech intended and calculated to influence and affect the result of elections in the constituencies voting today". It has now ordered the authorities to register a case against him.
A spokesperson for the BJP said Mr Modi had done nothing wrong and that the party would respond to the Election Commission notice.
If found guilty, Mr Modi could be sent to jail for up to two years or asked to pay a fine, or both, but correspondents say it is unlikely to happen.
Mr Modi was mobbed by frenzied crowds when he arrived at the polling booth
The governing Congress party is being led by its vice-president Rahul Gandhi
Brisk polling was reported throughout the day in Andhra Pradesh
Voting was also held in Srinagar constituency in Indian-administered Kashmir
Mr Modi is standing for election in two seats - in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi as well as Vadodara in Gujarat. If he wins both seats, he will have to relinquish one.
In Andhra Pradesh - where voting for state assemblies is also taking place - brisk polling was reported through the day.
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