At 63.5%, Phase 5 of Lok Sabha polls sees lowest voter turnout so far

A voter turnout of 63.5% was recorded in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, which is the lowest compared to the other phases so far, Election Commission data shows.

According to the Election Commission’s Voter Turnout android app, at 9 pm, the turnout in Monday’s (May 6) polling was 63.5%. The voter turnout has recorded a decreasing trend so far this election. At 69.50%, the polling in Phase 1 is the highest in the five phases so far. In Phase 2, the turnout was 69.44%, it was 68.40% in Phase 3 and 65.51% in Phase 4.

Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said as compared to 2014, in the first four phases (barring Monday’s Phase 5), 7.85 crore more people were eligible to cast their vote. He also said that six crore more voters participated in the democratic exercise in the first four phases as compared to 2014 LS polls in its four phases.

The Anantnag Parliamentary Constituency in Jammu & Kashmir went to polls in Phase 3, Phase 4 & Phase 5 — the only such instance in the country. The overall voter turnout there was 8.76% this year as compared to 28.54% in 2014 LS polls. The Ladakh constituency of the state, which went to polls Monday, recorded a turnout of 71.10% at 10pm as per the EC app.

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In 2014, the turnout was nearly the same at 71.9%. A total of 51 constituencies in seven states voted on May 6. In this phase, the least number of states were involved. Over 8.75 crore electors were to decide the fate of 674 candidates, including top leaders such as Congress president Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in this phase. The Election Commission set up over 96,000 polling booths, which included a maximum of 28,072 in Uttar Pradesh, for smooth conduct of polls.