LS polls LIVE: 59% turnout in sixth phase; Bengal tops with 78% amid BJP complaints
Among prominent candidates were Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP's Maneka Gandhi, Sambit Patra and Manohar Lal Khattar, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Congress' Kanhaiya Kumar
A voter turnout of over 59% was recorded on Saturday (May 25) in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
West Bengal recorded the highest turnout with 78% followed by Jharkhand (62.66%), and Odisha (59.72%). These were followed by Haryana 58.24% and Bihar (53.19%). Delhi recorded 54.37% polling and Uttar Pradesh 54.03%. Jammu and Kashmir recorded a voter turnout of 52%.
In the national capital, President Droupadi Murmu, Union ministers S Jaishankar and Hardeep Singh Puri, Delhi minister Atishi, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and outgoing East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir were among the early voters.
Voting was largely peaceful barring in West Bengal, where the BJP candidate from Jhargram, Pranat Tudu, was allegedly attacked when he was visiting a booth in Monglapota, while fellow party candidate from Medinipur, Agnimitra Paul, alleged that BJP polling agents were not allowed inside polling booths in Keshiary.
All you need to know about Phase VI polls
OVER 11 CRORE VOTERS: Over 11.13 crore voters - 5.84 crore male, 5.29 crore female and 5120 third gender - are eligible to exercise their franchise. The Election Commission (EC) has deployed around 11.4 lakh polling officials at 1.14 lakh polling stations.
With large parts of India sweltering under a heat wave, the EC has directed election officials and state machineries to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather.
KEY CANDIDATES: Among the prominent candidates in the poll fray are Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar, BJP's Maneka Gandhi, Sambit Patra, Manohar Lal Khattar and Manoj Tiwari, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, and Deepender Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar and Kanhaiya Kumar of Congress.
In West Bengal, voting will be held in the tribal belt Jangal Mahal region, spanning five districts. A hotspot for identity politics, the region sends eight representatives to Lok Sabha from Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura, and Bishnupur seats. Out of the eight seats, the BJP won five and TMC bagged three in the 2019 polls.
Soumendu Adhikari, the brother of Suvendu Adhikari, has been fielded from Kanthi, considered the backyard of the senior BJP leader.
An interesting fight is on the cards in Delhi with the BJP and the INDIA bloc partners pitted in a direct, one-on-one contest in all the seven seats. This is the first time the AAP and the Congress have fielded joint candidates against the BJP. While the AAP is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates on the remaining three seats.
The seats going to the polls in UP are Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr and Bhadohi.
Twenty candidates including Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference's Mian Altaf are in the fray from the redrawn Anantnag-Rajouri constituency in Jammu and Kashmir.
Live Updates
- 25 May 2024 12:26 PM GMT
Voting in Jharkhand's Maoist zone
Many voters exercised their franchise freely in the Maoist-hit Tundi block in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district on Saturday as the rebels did not call for a poll boycott for the first time since 1984, officials said.
Enthusiasm was witnessed among the people of Tundi, which falls under Giridih Lok Sabha seat, as 56.77 per cent turnout was recorded in the block till 3 pm, Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Madhvi Mishra said in a press communiqué.
Since 1984, Maoists have been putting up posters on school buildings and walls of houses asking people to refrain from casting their votes. They had called for boycotting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as well, an official said.
However, this time, they did not give a poll boycott call in the area for the first time in four decades, he said. “The base area of the Maoists has shrunk in the state and they are now restricted to only a few pockets. This is one of the reasons behind high voter turnout in red zones,” a senior police officer said.
Voters’ confidence to freely exercise their franchise was also boosted by frequent visits of Dhanbad Senior Superintendent of Police HP Janardhan and his team to vulnerable booths, the official claimed.
The district administration declared 34 of the 85 booths in the block as Maoist-affected.
Dinesh Mahtha, one of the voters, said that long queues, especially of women, were seen at polling stations after many years.
Dhaneswar Singh, a Maniadih resident whose younger brother was killed by Maoists for refusing to give levy in 1984, said there was no fear of the red rebels in the region.
Sunil Choudhary, a school teacher in Tundi, claimed that Maoists have been completely wiped out from the region.
