LS polls: 61% polling in last phase

Nearly 61 per cent voters turned out to cast their vote on Sunday in the seventh and the final phase of the LokSabha election held in 59 constituencies across eight states and Union Territories.

The turnout figure is tentative and the final figure isexpected later, the Election Commission said.

   

The fate of 918 candidates, including Prime MinisterNarendraModi, who is seeking to retain the Varanasi seat in Uttar Pradesh, willbe decided in this phase.

Voting took place in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chandigarh.

Over 10.01 crore voters were eligible to exercise theirfranchise. The Election Commission had set up more than 1.12 lakh pollingstations and deployed security personnel for smooth conduct of polls.

Incidents of violence in West Bengal and clashes in Punjabwere reported during the seventh and last phase of LokSabha polls on Sunday.

Voting took place in 13 seats of Punjab and an equal numberof seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar andMadhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seatChandigarh.

In Uttar Pradesh, 55.52 per cent voting was recorded in 13LokSabha seats, officials said.

The turnout in Varanasi was 53.58 per cent, while inGorakhpur, it was 56.47 per cent, the Election Commission said.

Violence erupted in ChandauliLokSabha constituency, wherestate BharatiyaJanata Party chief MahendraNath Pandey is seeking re-election,when supporters of the saffron party and the Samajwadi Party clashed. Thesituation was later brought under control.

A report from Chandauli said the fingers of Dalits had beeninked before they could actually cast their vote in Tara Jivanpur village underAlinagar police station. Officials said an FIR was registered in the matter.

Incidents of violence were reported in West Bengal where73.40 per cent of over 1.49 crore electorate exercised their franchise in nineLokSabha seats.

According to BJP’s North Kolkata candidate Rahul Sinha, acrude bomb was hurled near Girish Park in the constituency around noon. Police,however, said crackers were burst in the area, and polling was underwaypeacefully.

In Kolkata south, TMC candidate Mala Roy alleged that shewas stopped from entering polling booths.

Sporadic clashes were reported in Kolkata and itssurrounding areas, with TMC workers claiming that voters were being intimidatedby central forces outside booths.

BJP candidate Nilanjan Roy in Diamond Harbour constituencyalleged that his car was vandalized in Budge Budge area. Similar reports alsocame in from Jadavpur constituency, where BJP candidate AnupamHazra’s car cameunder the attack of unidentified men.

“Polling has by and large been peaceful in the nineseats. There have been no complaints of any violence from any of the pollingbooths,” an election official told PTI.

“There were also reports of EVM glitches in severalpolling stations. We have sent reserve EVMs to booths, where the voting processwas temporarily hampered due to technical glitches,” he added.

Punjab saw a polling percentage of 59 per cent in 13 LokSabhaseats. In lone Chandigarh LokSabha seat, 63.57 per cent turnout was registered.Maximum polling percentage was witnessed at 64.18 in Patiala and the lowest wasin Amritsar at 52.47.

In the morning, there were some reports of technicalglitches in EVMs at several places including Ludhiana, Samana and Moga.Punjab’s Chief Electoral Officer S KarunaRaju said eight ballot units, 13control units, and eight voter-verified paper audit trail have been replaced.

There were also reports of clashes between Congress andAkali-BJP workers in Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda and Gurdaspur. At Talwandi Sabo,Akalis alleged that shots were also fired by ruling party workers.

In Himachal Pradesh, 66.70 per cent turnout was recordedtill 5 pm in four LokSabha seats where five MLAs, including a state minister,are among the 45 candidates in the fray.

EVM snags delayed voting at nine polling stations. Votingrestarted after the nine faulty EVMs were replaced, a state election officersaid.

A turnout of 132 per cent has been recorded in the world’shighest polling station in Lahaul and Spiti district’s Tashigang village, adistrict official said.

In Madhya Pradesh, 69.36 per cent voter turnout was recordedin eight LokSabha seats.

However, voters listed at a booth in Agar Malwa districtfalling under the Dewas seat and five booths in Mandsaur seat boycotted thepolling over their demands. Efforts were on to persuade voters to exercisetheir democratic right, an official said.

The official said around 12 people cast their votes at the pollingbooth in Dewas after being persuaded by election officials there.

Bihar witnessed 53.36 per cent voting in eight LokSabhaseats.

An election official said, “Going by reports thatreached us from district headquarters, we have found out that the votingprocess was temporarily hampered at few polling stations in Ara, Sasaram,Jehanabad, Pataliputr and Buxar. Officials have attended to the complaints andredressed all grievances,” he said.

In neighbouring Jharkhand, an estimated 70.97 per cent ofthe total 45,64,681 voters exercised their franchise in three LokSabha seats.In the last phase of LokSabha polls, over 10.01crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. The Election Commissionhas set up more than 1.12 lakh polling stations and has deployed securitypersonnel for smooth conduct of polls. An average of 66.88 per cent votersexercised their franchise in the last six phases and the whole elections werespread over 38 days. Counting of votes will be taken up on May 23.

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