Nearly 64% voting recorded in 7th phase

Voting finally comes to an end

NEW DELHI: Voting for the marathon seven-phased Lok Sabha elections came to a close on Sunday as nearly 64 per cent turnout was recorded in the last phase of polls in 59 seats, which also featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi.

In the 2014 general elections, the highest ever voter turnout of 66.40 per cent was recorded.

Over 8,000 candidates were in the fray for 542 Lok Sabha seats across the country this year. Polling in Vellore seat in Tamil Nadu was deferred due to excessive use of cash.

An average of 66.88 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the last six phases and the entire polls were spread over 38 days. Counting of votes will be taken up on May 23.

Incidents of violence in West Bengal and clashes in Punjab were reported Sunday in the last phase which also saw EVM glitches and poll boycott at some booths. The fate of 918 candidates was decided in this phase.

Voting took place in 13 seats of Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.

In Uttar Pradesh, 56.84 per cent voting was recorded in 13 Lok Sabha seats, officials said.

Incidents of violence were reported in West Bengal where 73.51 per cent of over 1.49 crore electorate exercised their franchise in nine Lok Sabha seats.

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

Sporadic clashes were reported in Kolkata and its surrounding areas, with TMC workers claiming that voters were being intimidated by central forces outside booths.

“Polling has by and large been peaceful in the nine seats. There have been no complaints of any violence from any of the polling booths,” an election official said.

“There were also reports of EVM glitches in several polling stations. We have sent reserve EVMS to booths, where the voting process was temporarily hampered due to technical glitches,” he added.

Punjab saw a polling percentage of 59 per cent in 13 Lok Sabha seats. In Chandigarh seat, about 64 per cent turnout was registered. Maximum polling percentage was witnessed at 64.18 in Patiala and the lowest was in Amritsar at 52.47.

In the morning, there were some reports of technical glitches in EVMS at several places including Ludhiana, Samana and Moga.

In Himachal Pradesh, around 68 per cent turnout was recorded in four Lok Sabha seats where five MLAS, including a state minister, are among the 45 candidates in the fray.

A turnout of 132 per cent was recorded in the world’s highest polling station in Lahaul and Spiti district’s Tashigang village, a district official said.

EVM snags delayed voting at nine polling stations and voting restarted after the faulty EVMS were replaced.

In Madhya Pradesh, 71.15 per cent voter turnout was recorded in eight Lok Sabha seats.

Bihar witnessed 53.55 per cent voting in eight Lok Sabha seats.

In neighbouring Jharkhand, over 70.54 per cent of the total 45,64,681 voters exercised their franchise in three Lok Sabha seats.