63.5 per cent voter turnout in Phase 5: EC

A voter turnout of 63.5 per cent was recorded in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, which is the lowest in all the phases so far, Election Commission data shows.

According to the Commission's Voter Turnout android application, at 9.00 PM, the turnout in the Monday's polling was 63.5 per cent.

The voter turnout has recorded a decreasing trend so far this election.

At 69.50 per cent, the polling in phase-1 is the highest in the five phase so far. In phase-2, the turnout was 69.44 per cent, it was 68.40 in phase-3 and 65.51 per cent in phase-4.

Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena told reporters here that as compared to 2014, in the first four phases (barring Monday's phase five), 7.85 crore more people eligible to cast vote.

He also said that six crore more voters participated in the democratic exercise in the first four phases as compared to 2014 LS polls in its four phases.

The Anantnag Parliamentary Constituency in Jammu & Kashmir went to polls in Phase III, Phase IV & Phase V, the only such instance in the country.

The overall voter turnout there was 8.76 per cent this year as compared to 28.54 per cent in 2014 LS polls.

The Ladakh constituency of the state, which went to polls Monday, recorded a turnout of 71.10 per cent at 10 PM as per the EC app. In 2014, the turnout was nearly the same at 71.9 per cent.

A total of 51 constituencies in seven states voted Monday. In this phase, the least number of states were involved.

Over 8.75 crore electors were to decide the fate of 674 candidates, including top leaders such as Congress president Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in this phase.

The Election Commission set up over 96,000 polling booths, which included a maximum of 28,072 in Uttar Pradesh, for smooth conduct of polls.