LS polls phase 2: Over 63 per cent turnout; Tripura highest with 79.46%

Over 63 per cent polling was reported in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections covering 88 seats across 13 states amid complaints of EVM glitches and bogus voting in some states.

Election Commission data showed the highest voting percentage was recorded in Tripura which registered 79.46 percent polling, followed by Manipur at 77.32 while the turnout was in Uttar Pradesh at 54.85 percent and Bihar 55.08 percent.

Voters in some villages of Uttar Pradesh's Mathura, Rajasthan's Banswara and Maharashtra's Parbhani were boycotting the polls over various issues but were later persuaded by authorities to cast their franchise.

Polling for the second stage of the seven-phase elections started at 7 am and ended at 6 pm. Several states experienced intense heat conditions. The first phase of polling was held on April 19 in 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories.

The Election Commission (EC) said polling remained largely peaceful. The tentative figure at 8 pm of voter turnout of 63.50 per cent is likely to go up when reports from all polling stations are obtained, the EC said, adding voters reaching polling stations till the end of polling hour are allowed to cast their vote.

Polling was held in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 6 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Bihar, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and 1 seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and actor-turned-politician Arun Govil, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's brother DK Suresh (Cong), and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy (JDS) are among the key candidates while BJP's Hema Malini, Om Birla and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat seeking a hat-trick of wins from their respective constituencies.

 The election process, held amid tight security arrangements, was primarily incident free except for instances of bogus voting and breakdowns of electronic voting machines (EVMs) being reported in some booths of the state. Such incidents resulted in delaying the polling process in the affected booths.

One person each reportedly died at Palakkad, Alappuzha and Malappuram after casting their vote and a polling agent died after collapsing at a booth in Kozhikode.

Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency recorded a turnout of 78.48 per cent. Election officials said there were some complaints from a few booths but those were "promptly addressed".

said.

A voter turnout of 53.84 per cent was recorded in eight constituencies in Maharashtra, while in Rajasthan, the turnout was 62.46 per cent. Incidents of confrontation between the supporters of the Congress candidate and an independent candidate were reported at a couple of places during polling in Barmer-Jaisalmer Lok Sabha constituency of Rajasthan.

Police said they were looking into the complaints besides some about fake voting from some places.

The by-election for the Bagidora assembly constituency in Banswara district was also held simultaneously on Friday and 73.25 per cent voting took place.

A voter turnout of 53.71 per cent was recorded in the eight parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh. Senior citizens dominated the early hours of voting in Noida in the Gautam Buddh Nagar constituency. Some residents' welfare associations made arrangements for electric vehicles to ferry voters to and from the polling booths.

In Bihar, the turnout was 54.91 per cent, 71.84 per cent in in West Bengal and 71.21 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Lok Sabha polls are the first major electoral battle in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh -- on August 5, 2019.

The Election Commission registered nearly 300 complaints in West Bengal, mostly related to EVM malfunctioning.

After Friday's phase, polling is over in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura. In the first phase on April 19, polling was completed in all seats of Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1).

The third phase of elections for 94 seats across 12 states and Union territories will be held on May 7. Counting will be done on June 4. 

(With Agency inputs)