LIVE | 63% turnout in LS polls phase 4; Bengal tops with 76% amid violence

Some 3,000 early voters in Indore in Madhya Pradesh on Monday were treated to free “poha-jalebi” by shopkeepers of the city’s renowned food street “56 Dukan” as part of efforts to increase voting in the state’s commercial capital.

Voting for the last eight of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in MP, including Indore, is underway at present.

“Around 3,000 persons who voted between 7am and 9.30 am were given free poha and jalebi at five establishments here. Such was the crowd that we needed five quintals of poha to feed all of them,” Gunjan Sharma, president of the traders’ association of the renowned array of shops called “56 Dukan”, told PTI.

Senior citizens and youth who voted for the first time were given free ice cream along with poha and jalebi, Sharma added.

Indore Lok Sabha seat is MP’s largest with 25,26,803 eligible voters and the number of candidates here, at 14, is also the state’s highest.

However, the withdrawal of nomination by Congress’s Akshay Kanti Bam has rendered the poll in Indore, which is considered a BJP bastion since 1989, a one-horse race. The BJP has fielded sitting MP Shankar Lalwani.

Observers were of the view that the turn of events involving Bam, who later joined the BJP, could affect voter turnout. Incidentally, the Congress has been asking people to opt for NOTA (None of the Above) to teach the BJP a lesson.

A voter turnout of more than 52 per cent was recorded till 3 pm on Monday amid incidents of violence in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, as well as reports of poll boycott in some Uttar Pradesh villages.

There were also reports of EVMs malfunctioning at some booths in West Bengal and Odisha.

Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the lowest voting percentage till 3 pm with 29.93 per cent of voters exercising their franchise, while West Bengal recorded the highest with 66.05 per cent.

Among other states, Andhra Pradesh recorded 55.49 per cent polling, Bihar 45.23 per cent, Jharkhand 46.42 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 59.63 per cent, Maharashtra 42.35 per cent, Odisha 52.91 per cent, Telangana 52.34 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 48.41 per cent.

BJP candidate in Telangana’s Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat K Madhavi Latha was booked by election authorities after a video clip surfaced online in which she was purportedly seen asking burqa-clad women voters to show their faces to compare with the photo identity cards.

Violence was reported from parts of Andhra Pradesh with YSRCP and TDP leaders hurling accusations against each other. YSRCP leader and Tenali MLA A Shiva Kumar allegedly manhandled a voter in Tenali following an argument, police said, adding the voter also retaliated.

At Dalavaipalli village in Railway Kodur constituency, an EVM was destroyed while cars belonging to the ruling party and TDP were damaged, a police official said. A TDP agent was attacked at Nakkaladinne village in Myduruku constituency, leading to his hospitalisation.

The YSRCP alleged that party agent Suresh Reddy was stabbed at Mandi Krishnapuram village in Chittoor's Gudipala mandal. It also alleged that TDP supporters attacked party member B Anji Reddy at Aravallipadu in the Darsi constituency.

TDP MLC Mohammed Ahmed Shariff wrote a letter to Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena, complaining about alleged attacks by YSRCP cadres on TDP supporters at Rentala village in Rentichintala mandal of Palnadu district.

In Uttar Pradesh, there were instances of poll boycotts with people in some villages of Shahjahanpur keeping away from the process to protest against the lack of roads and development.

Sporadic incidents of violence marred the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls in the eight parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal as TMC and BJP workers clashed in various areas under Birbhum and Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha seats.

Although the poll panel claimed that voting in the state has been peaceful so far, it said it has received 1,088 complaints from different political parties alleging EVM malfunctioning and agents being stopped from entering booths.

EVM glitches were also reported in several places in Odisha. An official said 65 Ballot Units, 83 Control Units and 110 VVPATs have been replaced so far and most of the replacements were done during the mock poll exercise before starting of real voting at 7 am.

The Election Commission suspended two polling officials in Odisha for dereliction of duty, Chief Electoral Officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal said.

In neighbouring Jharkhand, security forces thwarted an attempt by Maoists to obstruct voter access to polling booths by felling a tree and blocking a road leading to remote Sonapi and Morangponga areas of West Singhbhum district.

Voting was progressing peacefully in Jammu and Kashmir where three generations of the Abdullah family cast their vote in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. However, a number of displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu were unable to cast their vote as their names were missing from the electoral rolls.

Scores of displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu were unable to vote on Monday as their names were missing from the electoral rolls.

Even as they lined up across special polling stations in Jammu amid tight security, several of them had to return without casting their vote.

“I came to the polling station with three members of my family to cast our votes despite such heat. We carried our EPIC (Voter ID) cards too. But we found our names missing from the electoral roll. It is a denial of our right to vote,” said Veena, a resident of Jagti camp and a migrant from the erstwhile Habbakadal area of Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

She said what’s the use of the voter ID card if that is not enough.

“They (EPIC) should be cancelled by ECI. The government wants us to vote but at the same time has a process that denies us the right to exercise our franchise.”

Avinash Raina and four of his family members, who hail from erstwhile Budgam area of Srinagar LS seat, also had to return without exercising their franchise.

“We came here to vote. We don’t figure in the voting list. What do we do now? Nobody is here to listen to us and resolve the issue,” he said.

Kashmiri Pandit Kuldeep Kumar and scores of electors from his colony too had to return without voting from a special polling station set up at the agriculture office in Talab Tillo.

“We found here that over 20 people were barred from voting as their names were absent from the voter list. Despite having EPIC cards, they were denied voting. There should be a probe into it,” he said.

Surinder Koul, another voter, said, “We have raised the issue with the poll authorities…. People are very angry.”

A Congress leader and president of Jagti tenement committee, Shadi Lal Pandita, said the government will be quick to accuse the Pandits of not coming out to vote. “But see the ground reality. They have EPIC cards but they do not figure in the lists. It is grave injustice.” Assistant Electoral Returning Officer (AERO), Migrants, Dr Riaz Ahmed attributed the problem to old data used to prepare the lists.

“We are aware of this problem. We tried to resolve these issues. We have told polling staff to allow such electors to vote,” he said.

As many as 52,100 Kashmiri migrants are registered as voters from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency; of them, 25,760 are men and 26,340 are women, he said.

A total of 26 polling stations have been set up for the migrants, out of which 21 are in Jammu, four in Delhi and one in Udhampur.

“We have set up 21 polling stations in Jammu. In view of the increase in number of voters, we have to set up some more auxiliary polling stations. For the Srinagar constituency, we have increased the number to 23 polling stations,” Ahmed said.