FLASH OF VICTORY
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flashes the victory sign as he holds the granddaughter of BJP president Amit Shah (left) after arriving to cast his vote during the third phase of general elections at a polling station in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. Modi was among over 100 million to cast ballots as India holds a ‘Super Tuesday’ of voting in its marathon election. —
Tens of millions of Indians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, voted on India’s “Super Tuesday” when the biggest number of seats are decided in the country’s marathon election.
Nearly 190 million voters were eligible to vote on 117 seats spread across 15 Indian states, stretching from the Himalayas to the Indian ocean, in the third of the seven phases of the mega polls.
Several incidents of violence were reported from many parts of the country during the polls.
In West Bengal, a man was killed and at least three Trinamool Congress (TMC) activists injured in the different incidents of violence.
The deceased, Tiyarul Kalam, was standing in the queue to cast his vote when he sustained injuries in clashes that erupted between Congress and TMC workers in Baligram area of Murshidabad parliamentary constituency. The violence broke out over allegations of proxy voting at booth number 188.
In Uttar Pradesh, BJP cadres thrashed an election officer at booth number 231 in Moradabad, alleging he was asking voters to press the ‘Cycle’ symbol of the Samajwadi party.
A scuffle between Congress and BJP workers broke out at booth number 2 in Bagalkot of Karnataka where Congress activists alleged that BJP workers were bringing engineering students to vote.
BJP workers beat up an NCP worker at SDM office in Bhopal after he allegedly showed black flags to Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur during her roadshow in Madhya Pradesh’s capital city.
The polls saw a voter turnout of 66 per cent compared to 69.03 per cent in 2014 with some states such as Odisha and Goa recording lower turnouts and a few others like Bihar witnessing a higher participation.
Addressing a Press conference here, senior deputy election commissioner Umesh Sinha said the polling percentage is expected to improve once the final figures come from states.
“The overall polling percentage in third phase was 66 per cent. It was 69.03 per cent in 2014,” he said. “With the third
phase, election has been concluded in 22 states and union territories,” he said.
The polling percentage was quite low at 12.86 per cent in six assembly constituencies of Anantnag that went to the polls on Tuesday. The poll percentage was 39.37 per cent in 2014. Anantnag has a three-phase schedule.
The interim polling percentage was 74.05 per cent in Assam compared to 80.21 per cent in 2014, Chhattisgarh 64.02 per cent (69.01 per cent in 2014), Karnataka 60.42 (67.2 per cent in 2014), Goa 70.9 per cent (76.86 in 2014), Gujarat 59 per cent (63.34 in 2014), Kerala 73.06 per cent (74.02 in 2014), West Bengal 78.97 per cent, Tripura 79.64 per cent (83.02 in 2014), Bihar 60 (59.08 in 2014), Maharashtra 62 per cent (62.86 in 2014), Odisha 64 per cent (73.75 in 2014) and Uttar Pradesh 60.52 per cent (61.48 in 2014).
The polling percentage was 71.43 per cent in Dadra and Nagar Haveli (84.08 in 2014) and
By voting, I feel the same sense of purity that one gets by taking a bath at the Kumbh festival
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
73 per cent in Daman and Diu (77.84 in 2014).
Another deputy election commissioner Sudip Jain said there was an incident of EVM button not working in Thiruvananthapuram and it was resolved to satisfaction of all candidates.
Meanwhile, after casting his ballot in his home state of Gujarat, Modi compared the experience of voting to the Hindu practice of cleansing sins by bathing in the Ganges river.
“By voting, I feel the same sense of purity that one gets by taking a bath at the Kumbh festival,” he said. Modi voted in the constituency where his close associate Amit Shah, the BJP president, is contesting his maiden election. —