Voters brave heatwave; rst phase has over 62% turnout
Lakshadweep saw the highest turnout at 83.88% and Bihar the lowest of 48.88%, says EC; violence was reported in Manipur, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh; polling has been completed for 10 States and Union Territories in the opening phase
voter turnout of 62.37% was recorded in the rst phase of the Lok Sabha election on Friday, which sealed the fate of candidates in 102 constituencies across 21 States and Union Territories.
The voting percentage is likely to go up when reports from all polling stations are obtained, the Election Commission (EC) said in a statement. The poll body also commended the “high” voter turnout “despite the heatwave”.
The poll percentage was 69.4 in the rst phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
APolling has been completed for 10 States and Union Territories in this phase, including Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and most north-eastern States. Prominent
leaders such as Nitin Gadkari, Kanimozhi, Gaurav Gogoi and Bhupendra Yadav were among the contestants in this phase.
The seven-phase polls would end on June 1 and counting would take place on June 4.
Among the States where the polling took place, incidents of violence were reported from Manipur, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Lakshadweep saw the highest voter turnout at 83.88% and Bihar the lowest of 48.88%, as per provisional EC data at 11.30 p.m.
69.46% polling in T.N.
Tamil Nadu, where voting took place for all 39 Lok Sabha seats, saw a turnout of 69.46%. Voters in Ekanapuram in Kancheepuram district boycotted the polls to protest against the acquisition of farmland for a greeneld airport for Chennai.
In ethnic violence-hit Manipur, the voter turnout was 72.17%. Violence was reported in areas under the Inner Manipur seat straddling the Meitei-majority Imphal Valley. Unidentied armed men red several rounds outside a polling station at Thamnapokpi in Bishnupur district, reportedly injuring three persons.
No violence was reported from the Outer Manipur seat reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.
Very few people from the Kuki community came out to vote. Kuki politicians had decided not to contest the polls.