Voting concludes for 18th Lok Sabha polls; last phase records 60% turnout

After six weeks, voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, which began on April 19, concluded with a nearly 60% turnout recorded till 8.45 p.m. in the seventh and last phase on Saturday.

In West Bengal, where nine seats went to the polls, violence was reported from Sandeshkhali (Basirhat constituency) and Bhangar (Jadavpur seat).

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West Bengal recorded the highest voter turnout at 69.89%. The lowest voting percentage was recorded in Bihar at 50.79%. The turnout in Himachal Pradesh was 67.53%, 69.59% in Jharkhand, 63.57% in Odisha, 55.86% in Punjab, 55.60% in Uttar Pradesh and 62.80% in Chandigarh.

While votes cast in the Lok Sabha election and Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will be counted on June 4 from 8 a.m., counting for the Assembly elections in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh will be on June 2.

“Through their emphatic participation, the voters have risen to the trust reposed by the founders of the Indian Constitution, when they handed over the power of suffrage to the ordinary Indian. The massive participation in the democratic exercise reaffirms the democratic ethos and spirit of India,” the Election Commission of India said in a statement.

The poll body expressed its gratitude to the election machinery, including the security forces, the political parties and the candidates.

In West Bengal, tension began in Sandeshkhali late on Friday night when a group of women came out on the streets protesting against alleged threats to their family members by Trinamool Congress workers. Clashes broke out on Saturday between Trinamool and BJP supporters with BJP candidate Rekha Patra alleging that Trinamool workers stopped people from voting. The Trinamool said Ms. Patra and the BJP workers tried to vitiate the poll atmosphere.

In Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, a 70-year-old man collapsed and died at a polling booth in Chak Bahuddin village.

Voting for the last phase was held in 57 seats amid a severe heat wave in northern India. A total of 906 candidates were in the fray and 10.06 crore electors were registered to exercise their franchise.

Some of the key constituencies that voted on Saturday were Varanasi, where Congress’ Ajai Rai is challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Mandi, which will see a contest between the BJP’s Kangana Ranaut and the Congress’s Vikramaditya Singh; Chandigarh, where the Congress’s Manish Tewari is in fray against the BJP’s Sanjay Tandon and Diamond Harbour where Trinamool’s second in-command Abhishek Banerjee is pitted against the CPI(M)’s Pratik Ur Rahman.

The high-octane campaign for the Lok Sabha election which ended last Thursday, saw political parties weaving narratives, often acrimonious, over issues ranging from caste, religion, reservation and citizenship.

The two constants in the nearly two-month-long campaign were the searing heat and low voter turnout as compared to 2019. The first six phases recorded turnouts of 66.14%, 66.71%, 65.68%, 69.16%, 62.2% and 63.36%. respectively.