Around 61 per cent polling in third phase; clashes in West Bengal; SP alleges irregularities in UP

New Delhi, May 7

A voter turnout of 61.55 per cent was recorded on Tuesday in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories with stray incidents of violence in West Bengal.

Assam recorded the highest turnout at 75.3 per cent followed by Goa at 74.32 per cent and West Bengal at 73.93 per cent, while Maharashtra witnessed the lowest at 54.98 per cent, with Bihar and Gujarat doing slightly better at 56.83 per cent, according to the figures from the Election Commission at 8 pm.

While the official time for voting to end is 6 pm, it can go beyond to enable voters who have come in the queue well before the end of fixed polling hours to exercise their franchise.

According to the EC, the figures are an “approximate” trend and are likely to rise as data was being collected.

Among other states, Uttar Pradesh recorded 57.34 per cent polling, Chhattisgarh 67.07 per cent, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 65.23 per cent, Karnataka 68.14 per cent, and Madhya Pradesh 63.22 per cent, according to the EC.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were among those who exercised their franchise in the state. While PM Modi cast his vote at a polling booth in Gandhinagar, Shah voted at a polling booth in Ahmedabad.

Shah (Gandhinagar) is among the bigwigs in the fray along with Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).

The stakes are high for the BJP in this round as it had won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, in the last election.

In Uttar Pradesh, where several members of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family are contesting, party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the BJP workers were trying to “loot booths” in Mainpuri and people from opposition parties were being detained in police stations.

Yadav cast his vote in Saifai (Etawah) in the Mainpuri constituency where his wife and sitting MP Dimple Yadav is contesting.

Sporadic incidents of violence marred the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in four constituencies in West Bengal as TMC, BJP and Congress-CPI(M) workers clashed with each other in various parts of Murshidabad and Jangipur seats.

In Uttar Pradesh, Agra witnessed 51.53 per cent polling, Aonla 54.73 per cent, Budaun 52.77 per cent, Bareilly 54.21 per cent, Etah 57.07 per cent, Fatehpur Sikri 54.93 per cent, Firozabad 56.27 per cent, Hathras 53.54 per cent, Mainpuri 55.88 per cent and Sambhal 61.1 per cent.

“In Mainpuri, BJP people are trying to loot booths. They are detaining opposition people in police stations,” SP chief Yadav alleged without elaborating.

He also alleged rigging of votes at some places and said, “Information is coming from some places that the government is using force. It is heard that officers have been deployed outside polling booths.”