Amid Glitches and Violence, 64.66% Polling Recorded in Third Phase

The third leg of polling was the largest, in terms of number of seats.

With 117 seats across 13 states and two union territories casting their votes, the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections ended on Tuesday, 23 April.

The third leg of polling witnessed violence and other unfortunate incidents resulting in the killing of an activist and death of a poll official.

Reports of technical glitches in EVMs and VVPATs also emerged.

Election Commission reported a 64.66 percent turnout, till 6 pm. However, final figures are likely to change as queues of voters were seen at several centres even after the scheduled time for voting ended.

Here is a lowdown of all the key highlights of the third phase of polling:

One Killed, Incidents of Misconduct Reported

A 52-year-old man, reportedly a Congress activist, was killed outside a polling booth in Murshidabad in West Bengal.

In Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag, a poll official, Hilal Ahmad Khan, died in Kokernag, after the bus he was travelling in rolled over.

At a booth in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah, the presiding officer was removed after people accused him of forcing them to cast their votes in favour of the Samajwadi Party.

SP leader Ahmed Nafis was taken into custody for some hours in Kasganj in Etah after authorities anticipated breach of peace.

In Kerala, a 21-year-old man identified as Ebin Babu, was booked by police after he allegedly made a false complaint about a voting machine in a booth where he cast his vote

Largest Phase of Voting

With as many as 117 seats going to polls, the third leg of voting was the largest, in terms of number of seats.

As the first two phases saw 91 and 96 Lok Sabha seats polling respectively, after Tuesday’s leg, more than half of the seats have now sealed their fate.

About 18.56 crore voters, across 2.10 lakh polling booths were eligible to cast their votes.

The stakes were high for the ruling BJP and its allies as they had bagged 66 seats out of these 117 seats in the 2014 general election, while the Congress and its alliance partners won 27, and the rest went to other Opposition parties and Independents.

Opposition Leaders Allege EVM Malfunctioning

A number of Opposition leaders alleged that EVMs across the country were not functioning properly.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said there are reports of EVM malfunctioning in many booths, and urged the Election Commission to take notice of it. In fact, voting was restarted in Kerala’s Kovalam after it was stopped following reports of EVM malfunctioning.

During trial in a polling booth in Chertala in Kerala, all the votes in an EVM machine were reportedly found to be going to BJP. Following protests by LDF, the machine was replaced.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged in a tweet that EVMs across the country were “malfunctioning or voting for the BJP”.

EVMs across India malfunctioning or voting for the BJP. DMs say poll officials untrained to operate EVMs. 350+ being replaced. This is criminal negligence for a polling exercise that costs 50,000 crs.

Should we believe DMs @ECISVEEP, or is something far more sinister afoot? pic.twitter.com/eGsGUUBWai

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 23, 2019

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal also alleged that there have been several instances of faulty electronic voting machines in Goa during polling for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections.

An entire set of EVMs has been replaced for AC 34, Polling Station No 31, as per reports from DEO South Goa.

Heavyweights in Fray in Second Phase

Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his rival in BJP, Amit Shah were in fray as Wayanad in Kerala and Gandhinagar in Gujarat went to polls in the third phase.

Union Minister K Alphons, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, four members of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav's clan including him besides senior party leader Azam Khan and actor and BJP candidate Jaya Prada, were also contesting on Tuesday.

Among the prominent candidates in the fray in Odisha were BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and Odisha Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik, while in Bihar, Loktantrik Janata Dal chief Sharad Yadav and state minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav were contesting the polls.

The electoral battle in West Bengal for the third phase featured sitting MPs and TMC candidates – Arpita Ghosh from Balurghat and Mausam Benazir Noor from Maldaha Uttar – Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit from Jangipur and BJP's Humayun Kabir.

In Assam, noteworthy among those in the fray were sitting MPs AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal in Dhubri and Independent Naba Sarania in Kokrajhar; BPF candidate and state social welfare minister Pramila Rani from Kokrajhar and Congress MLA Abdul Khaleque from Barpeta.

64.66% Turnout Recorded Till 6 PM

The Election Commission said that till 6 pm, 64.66 percent turnout was recorded across all the seats, which is expected to go higher. Here is a look at voter turnouts in various states: