Lok Sabha polls Phase 5: Below 50% turnout till 3 pm, Mumbai lags behind

Lok Sabha polls 2024: West Bengal recorded the highest polling percentage till 3 pm at 62.72 per cent, followed by the Union Territory of Ladakh where 61.26 per cent voters had cast their votes

The voter turnout across 49 Lok Sabha constituencies at the fifth phase polling of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections stood at 47.53 per cent till 3 pm, the Election Commission’s (EC) data showed.

West Bengal recorded the highest polling percentage till 3 pm at 62.72 per cent, followed by the Union Territory of Ladakh where 61.26 per cent voters had cast their votes, as per the data available on the EC’s ‘Voter Turnout’ app.

The other six states and UTs where polling took place in the fifth phase, hovered between 45 per cent to 55 per cent in their voter turnout, except Maharashtra which logged the poorest voter turnout among all at 38.77 per cent.

Mumbai constituencies record poor turnout

Maharashtra lagged behind other states in the 1 pm consolidated data as well, recording  27.78 per cent voting. Several Bollywood film personalities including Anupam Kher, Shilpa Shetty, Anil Kapoor, Hritik Roshan among others were spotted casting their votes in Mumbai and appealing their fans to participate in the electoral exercise. However, the response remained muted in all six constituencies of Mumbai, standing at below 40 per cent till 3 pm.

In Maharashtra, the highest polling percentage was noted in Dindori Lok Sabha constituency at 45.95 per cent till 3 pm. Other than the six Mumbai constituencies, Maharashtra's Bhiwandi, Dhule, Kalyan, Nashik and Thane are the only seats to register less than 40 per cent polling share so far.

Voter turnout across 49 seats till 1 pm

The overall polling percentage across 49 seats till 1 pm remained at about 36 per cent. There were also reports of EVM glitches at some booths in Odisha and West Bengal.

Bihar reported 34.62 per cent voter turnout; Jammu and Kashmir at 34.79 per cent, Jharkhand at 41.89 per cent, Odisha at 35.31 per cent, Uttar Pradesh at 39.55 per cent, and West Bengal at 48.51 per cent.

In West Bengal, scattered incidents of violence affected the polls in seven parliamentary constituencies. Reports of clashes between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged in Barrackpore, Bongaon and Arambagh.