61% vote in Phase-6; West Bengal reports clashes

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, May 25

West Bengal recorded the highest turnout of 79.4 per cent in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, while Uttar Pradesh saw the lowest at 54 per cent, as per the EC data. The Anantnag seat in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a 28-year-high polling of 54.30 per cent.

A voter turnout of 61.2 per cent was witnessed as the polling was held for 58 seats across eight states and union territories on Saturday, according to the preliminary data released by the EC at 11.45 pm. Sporadic incidents of violence and complaints of EVM tampering in West Bengal were reported. This is the lowest turnout in the six phases held so far since the beginning of the elections on April 19. In 2019, the turnout for these 58 seats was 64.9 per cent.

After West Bengal, Odisha figured second in terms of the voter turnout at 69.5 per cent. Delhi and Haryana recorded a turnout of 58.7 per cent and 64.2 per cent, respectively. In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, while the BJP and its NDA allies had won 44 seats, the Congress had failed to win any of these seats. With the culmination of polling in six phases so far, voting is now over in 28 states across 485 seats (excluding Gujarat’s Surat seat where the BJP candidate had received a walkover). Polling is also over for 105 Assembly seats in Odisha. The state has a total of 147 Assembly seats.

Eight seats in Bihar, one in J&K, all 10 in Haryana, four in Jharkhand, all seven in the NCT of Delhi, six in Odisha, 14 in UP and eight in West Bengal went to the polls in the sixth phase. Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from various parts of the Kanthi, Tamluk, West Midnapore and Bishnupur constituencies.