63.43 pc voting in 6th phase of LS polls, highest in West Bengal 80.35 pc

Over 63 per cent polling was recorded in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha voting on Sunday, with the highest turnout of 80.35 per cent in West Bengal and minimum of 59.74 per cent in the city-state of Delhi.

Barring stray incidents of violence in West Bengal, the election on 59 seats spread over eight states remained peaceful. The voting took place from 7 am to 6 pm.

"An estimated 63.43 per cent turnout was recorded on Sunday in the 6th phase of Lok Sabha polls on 59 seats," said Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha here on Sunday evening after the election was over.

Over 5 per cent drop in turnout was recorded in Delhi which logged only 59.74 per cent voting as compared to 65.1 per cent registered in the last General Elections, Sinha said.

Similarly, West Bengal and Haryana also saw a drop in the voting turnout in the sixth phase.

The voter turnout for 8 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal was pegged at 80.35 per cent as compared to 84.98 per cent recorded in 2014. Haryana witnessed a drop of around three per cent as compared to the last Lok Sabha polls.

All 10 seats in Haryana had registered the poll turnout of 71.86 per cent in 2014 as compared to 68.17 per cent recorded on Sunday.

On the other hand, a spike in voter turnout was recorded in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. "In 8 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in MP, the turnout was pegged at 64.55 per cent. In 2014, the corresponding seats had total polling of 56.81 per cent," said the ECI.

Bihar's 8 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats recorded the turnout of 59.29 per cent as compared to 57.25 per cent polling in the last general elections.

No change was seen in voting percentage in four out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand that went to polls on Sunday. "Jharkhand recorded 64.50 per cent turnout as compared to 64.53 per cent recorded in the last polls," said Sinha.

Polls were also held in 14 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh which recorded the turnout of 54.72 per cent. "Polling till 6 pm in UP is 54.72 per cent almost the same as 54.53 per cent recorded in 2014," said the EC.

Polling was held in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats in Haryana, 8 seats each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, seven in Delhi and four in Jharkhand.

Re-polling in Tripura West parliamentary constituency which had gone to polls on April 11, was also held on Sunday with a turnout of 72.2 per cent.

The prominent among those who were in the fray in the current round of polling included former chief ministers Akhilesh Yadav from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, Digvijay Singh from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Sonepat in Haryana, and Sheila Dikshit from North-East Delhi.

The other bigwigs whose fate were sealed in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were Union Ministers Radha Mohan Singh from Purvi Champaran in Bihar, Dr Harsh Vardhan from Chandani Chowk in Delhi, and Narendra Singh Tomar from Morena in Madhya Pradesh.

Former Union Minister and RJD veteran Raghuvansh Prasad Singh was in the fray from Vaishali in Bihar, while Congress general secretary and also a former union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia was contesting from Guna in Madhya Pradesh.

The key candidates whose fate were sealed in EVMs in the national capital apart from Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, included Meenakshi Lekhi from New Delhi, Gautam Gambhir, Atishi Marlena from East Delhi, Raghav Chadha, Vijender Singh and Ramesh Bidhuri from South Delhi.

With the sixth phase voting completed, polling in 483 out of 543 Lok Sabha constituencies in the country has been concluded. The seventh and the last phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on May 19 for 59 seats.

The fifth phase of voting took place on May 6 for 51 Lok Sabha seats spread over seven states in which the fate of several key leaders including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Minister Smriti Irani has been sealed in EVMs. Over 62 per cent polling had been recorded in the 5th phase of polling.

Fourteen seats in Uttar Pradesh including Amethi, Rae Bareli, and Lucknow, 12 in Rajasthan, seven each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, five in Bihar and four in Jharkhand went to polls in addition to Ladakh and Anantnag constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir in the 5th phase of polling.

According to the ECI, over 8.75 crore voters were eligible to cast their ballots to decide the fate of 674 candidates across the country in the 5th phase of polling, which were held at 96,000 polling stations. According to data released by the EC, final voter turnout in the fourth phase of ongoing Lok Sabha elections held on April 29 stood at 65.51 per cent.

The polling percentage in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections was the highest in West Bengal - around 76.44 per cent till 5 pm. As many as eight seats of the state went to the polls in the fourth phase.

The first five phases of Lok Sabha polls were held on April 11, 18, 23, 29, and May 6.

The last phase of polling on May 19 will see 59 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in eight states and Union Territory - Bihar 8, Himachal Pradesh 4, Jharkhand 3, Madhya Pradesh 8, Punjab 13, Uttar Pradesh 13, West Bengal 9, and Chandigarh 1. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.