As polling concluded in 542 seats in the final phase of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission noted a 60.21 percent voter turnout till 6 pm. 7.27 crore people voted in the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha polls that took place in 13 Parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab respectively, 9 of West Bengal, 8 of Bihar, 3 of Jharkhand, all the four of Himachal Pradesh and one seat in Chandigarh.
Punjab, Chandigarh And Himachal
Giving out state-wise data updates during a press briefing, the Election Commission stated that Punjab witnessed a 60 percent voter turnout till 5 pm. In 2014, the state had recorded a 71.28 percent turnout after the final phase of polls.
The lone seat in Chandigarh meanwhile, recorded a 65.6 per cent voter turnout this year, in comparison to 73.84 percent during the 2014 polls.
Himachal recorded a 65.5 percent voter turnout on Sunday, which is slightly higher than the 65.06 per cent turnout in 2014.
Overall, the 59 parliamentary constituencies across the three states recorded a 61 percent turnout and was expected to be slightly higher than the 64.63 percent turnout in 2014, once polling wrapped up.
West Bengal
West Bengal meanwhile, saw 111 candidates in the fray in the final phase of polling that saw 1.49 crore voters heading to the polling booths for the remaining 9 parliamentary constituencies. Till 4 pm on Sunday, 19 May, the voter turnout was 65.59 percent.
Unlike most of the other states, polling in West Bengal wasn’t ‘incident free’. The EC noted multiple instances of violence across the state. Agitation outside a polling station Basirhat resulted in a differently-abled person sustaining injuries and damages being caused to a QRT vehicle. Meanwhile, two bombs were hurled at the Mathurapur constituency early Sunday morning.
“Several preventive actions were taken for this phase at WB. Last night in the 9 Parliamentary Constituencies, 751 rowdies have been detained. Apart from this, 2,222 rowdy elements were detained from across the state, outside these 9 PC areas so that none of them can enter into these Parliamentary constituencies.”Election Commission
The EC also noted that several complaints poured in from political parties throughout the day from Diamond Harbour and Dumdum.
Madhya Pradesh And Jharkhand
1.49 crore voters turned up to cast their polls in 8 remaining constituencies of Madhya Pradesh. 8,411 polling stations were set up and till 3 pm on Sunday 19 May, 59.38 per cent voters cast their ballot.
With 42 candidates in the fray for 3 constituencies, Jharkhand saw 45.64 lakh voters cast their ballots in 6258 polling stations. The Election Commission mentioned that additional precautions were taken for the polling in the state.
“For reasons like difficult topography, the hills, forests, distance, polling stations, naxal problems, etc, approvals were given for P-2 dispatch for 5945 polling stations across the four polling phases.”Election Commission