Voter turnout in second phase of Lok Sabha polls recorded at 66%: Election Commission
Voters in Bihar
The Election Commission on Thursday stated that the total voter turnout in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls has been recorded at 66 per cent. Senior deputy election commissioner Umesh Sinha told media about the total polling percentage today evening.
Moderate to high voter turnout was recorded in the 95 constituencies in 11 states and Puducherry that went to polls in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections which were marred by sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal and Manipur and EVM glitches.
Isolated incidents of violence, road blockades, bombings and police firing marred the second phase of polling at a few places in the three Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal.
Till 7 pm on Thursday, as per the official EC data, the total voter turnout stood at around 64 per cent with West Bengal registering the highest turnout at 76 per cent despite incidents of violence in many areas.
Technical glitches relating to Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines held up polling in the morning in several constituencies across Tamil Nadu till the machines were changed.
Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo told reporters that 384 faulty EVMs and 692 faulty VVPAT machines were replaced across the state and after that, polling went on smoothly. Voter turnout here till 7 pm was recorded at 63.90 per cent.
In Odisha, the chief electoral officer recommended re-polling in booth 213 in Sundergarh, booth 129 in Bonai, and booths 210 & 222 in Daspalla assembly constituency due to technical problems in EVM machines and VVPATs. The voter turnout here till 7 pm was recorded at 57.81.
Puducherry saw a high voter turnout of 78 per cent while in Manipur, the polling percentage was nearly 75, sources in the election office said.
Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar, which in 2014 witnessed the lowest voter turnout in the country at 25.86 per cent, saw 12.43 per cent polling, with highest 17.1 per cent recorded in Shia-dominated Budgam district till 3 pm. The voter turnout here till 7 pm was recorded at 44.60 per cent.
No untoward incident was reported during polling which was being held amid tight security due to militant threats and a boycott call by separatists in Kashmir.
Besides Tamil Nadu, the polling was conducted in 14 seats in Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra, eight in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam, Bihar and Odisha, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, two in Jammu and Kashmir and one seat each in Manipur and Puducherry besides 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
Till 7 pm the total voter turnout for Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh stood at 75.85 per cent, 63.01 per cent, 66.69 per cent, 59.64 per cent, 76.15 per cent, 61.94 per cent and 70.94 per cent respectively.
Polling in Tamil Nadu's Vellore seat was cancelled on Tuesday by the Election Commission following the recovery of cash allegedly from an associate of a DMK leader recently.
The counting of votes will take place on May 23.
(With inputs from agencies)