50% turnout in Phase 3 polls

The average turnout for 107 Lok Sabha seats spanning nine states and two Union territories that went to polls today in the third phase of general elections, hovered between 45 and 50 per cent owing to inclement weather conditions and a perceptible excitement deficit. The third phase completes elections to 372 seats in a 545-member House.

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, elected several terms from Lucknow, was missing from the star constituency in Uttar Pradesh as his health did not permit him even to cast his vote this time. The state held polling for 17 seats, including Rae Bareli where Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s campaign managers were only concerned about whether she would win by an even bigger margin again.

In Lucknow, Akhilesh Das of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), who left the Congress in 2008 to join the BSP, was up against Lalji Tandon (BJP), Rita Bahuguna Joshi (Congress) and Nafisa Ali (Samajwadi Party). Das is a former mayor of Lucknow as well.

In Kanpur, Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal (Congress), was pitted against Satish Mahana (BJP), Sukhda Misra (BSP) and Surendra Mohan Agarwal (Samajwadi Party). In Fatehpur, Ajeya Singh (Jan Morcha), son of late prime minister VP Singh, and Vibhakar Shastri (Congress), grandson of Lal Bahadur Shastri, was facing each other and half a dozen other candidates.

Meanwhile, in Gujarat, where polling was 50 per cent, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, LK Advani, contested from Gandhinagar. Despite brave words from the Congress and planeloads of non-resident Indians descending on the constituency to campaign for Congress candidate Suresh Patel, there was no doubt about the victory of the BJP, only about how much Advani would increase his victory margin.