Nagaland tops in Lok Sabha voter turnout

The highest turnout of voters in the Lok Sabha election was recorded in the northeastern state of Nagaland, with 87.82 percent of electors exercising their franchise, while the lowest turnout of 49.52 percent was in Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission Thursday said.

"The highest male turnout was reported in Nagaland (88.15 percent) while the highest female turnout was reported in Lakshadweep (88.42 percent)," the poll panel said in a press release.

The female voter turnout was higher than the male turnout in 16 states and union territories -- Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Odisha, Puducherry, Punjab and Sikkim.

The average voter turnout was 66.4 percent, highest since the first general election in 1951, against 58.19 percent in the 2009 poll.

The poll panel said that, besides Nagaland, the states where the voter turnout crossed the 80-percent mark were Tripura (84.72 percent), Sikkim (83.37 percent) and West Bengal (82.16 percent).