Tamil Nadu, Bengal see highest voter turnout since Independence: EC

Record turnout in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal polls; Election Commission of India hails voters as participation hits historic highs since Independence

Tamil Nadu, with 84.69 per cent, and West Bengal, in its first phase of polling with 91.78 per cent, recorded the highest-ever poll participation since Independence, the Election Commission (EC) said on Thursday evening.

 

The EC salutes each voter of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal for recording the highest-ever polling percentage since Independence, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said.

 

Voting concluded for all 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, and 152 out of a total of 294 seats in West Bengal, on Thursday evening.

 

In Tamil Nadu, the total number of electors is 57.3 million, while in West Bengal, 36 million electors voted in the first phase. The second phase for the remaining 142 seats is on April 29.

 

 

The EC said that the previous highest polling percentage in Tamil Nadu was 78.29 per cent and 84.72 per cent in West Bengal, both in the 2011 Assembly elections.

 

In West Bengal, polling is taking place in the shadow of a special intensive revision, in which almost 9 million electors have been struck off the electoral rolls. Officials said this has contributed to the high polling percentage, as millions in the older electoral lists were either deceased or had relocated.

 

According to EC data, women electors recorded a higher turnout percentage in both Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. In Tamil Nadu, 85.76 per cent of female electors voted, compared to 83.57 per cent of male electors. In West Bengal, female turnout was 92.69 per cent, while male turnout stood at 90.92 per cent.

 

The EC on Wednesday allowed 139 voters to participate in the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls after judicial tribunals cleared their names. Around 3.4 million electors have filed appeals for reinstatement in the electoral rolls. There have been 2.7 million deletions during the ongoing adjudication process, which has involved over 6 million voters.

 

More than 9 million electors have been deleted from the electoral rolls in West Bengal, with the total number of electors dropping from 76.6 million to 67.5 million, marking a dip of 12 per cent.

 

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, who addressed poll rallies in Krishnanagar in Nadia district, congratulated the people of West Bengal for their massive turnout and said the voting figures suggest an “overwhelming mandate for change”. The PM also congratulated the EC for keeping “violence during the Assembly polls in the state at a minimum”. The EC has deployed an unprecedented 2,400 companies of central paramilitary troops.

 

Modi said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) West Bengal unit would hold victory celebrations on May 4 after the counting of votes, where the party would distribute not just sweets but also ‘jhalmuri’, the popular street snack the PM savoured during an unscheduled stop in Jhargram last week.

 

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) thanked electors for the record turnout and claimed the party is cruising towards a big win. Responding to the PM’s remarks, TMC Spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the surge in polling percentage has “decisively gone in favour of the ruling party” and signals a clear rejection of the BJP. “The BJP is trying to misread the massive turnout. This is not a vote for change, but a resounding endorsement of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s governance. The people of Bengal have broken the BJP’s backbone in the very first phase,” Ghosh said.