Elections 2019: Moderate to High Turnout in Second Phase

New Delhi: Moderate to high voter turnout was recorded in the 95 constituencies in 11 states and Puducherry that went to polls in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections which were marred by sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir and Manipur and electronic voting machine (EVM) glitches.

According to the Election Commission, there was an overall turnout of 61.12% till 5 p.m.

Puducherry saw a high voter turnout of 78% while in Manipur, the polling percentage was nearly 75%, sources in the election office said.

Srinagar, which in 2014 witnessed the lowest voter turnout in the country at 25.86%, saw 12.43% polling, with highest 17.1% recorded in Shia-dominated Budgam district till 3 pm.

In Tamil Nadu, where polling is being held in the maximum 38 seats, the voter turnout was around 63.16% per cent till 6.p.m. Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said no reports of booth capturing or any other untoward incident regarding law and order has been received so far.

Besides Tamil Nadu, polling is being held in 14 seats in Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra, eight in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam, Bihar and Odisha, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, two in Jammu and Kashmir and one seat each in Manipur and Puducherry besides 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.

Isolated incidents of violence, road blockades, bombings and police firing marred polling in the three Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal. Police fired in the air and burst tear gas shells to control a mob, who threw stones at them in Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal. Bombs were also hurled by unknown miscreants in Chopra area, a senior EC official said.

A reporter and a camera person of a local news channel were allegedly manhandled when they went to cover polling at Kataphulbari in Raiganj constituency.

CPI(M) candidate from Raiganj, Md Salim, said his car was attacked by unknown persons when he went to a polling booth at Islampur.

An average 57.22 per cent polling was recorded till 5 pm in 10 constituencies of Maharashtra.

Around 59.72 per cent polling was recorded till 3 pm in Chhattisgarh's three Lok Sabha seats, all having Naxal presence, amid tight security.

According to police, except for an IED blast triggered by Maoists in Mohla-Manpur assembly segment of Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency, no other untoward incident was reported in the poll-bound areas.

In Odisha, about 53% voters exercised their franchise till 3 pm in five Odisha Lok Sabha and 35 Assembly seats, some of them in Naxal-affected areas.

Karnataka saw a turnout of 61.84 per cent till 5 pm.

In Assam, Karimganj recorded the highest polling of 63.66% till 3 pm followed by Mangaldoi and Autonomous district- both at 62.7% , Silchar with 57.06 and Nowgong with the lowest at 56.78%.

The five seats in Bihar saw an estimated 45.77% voting till 3 pm.

UP, the hotbed

In UP, the turnout was 51.91% till 5.00 pm for eight constituencies of in the Western region — Bulandshahr, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Hathras, Aligarh, Mathura, Nagina and Amroha.

These eight seats represent the heartland of dalits around the Braj region. With 85 candidates in the fray, the contest is evenly poised, with the caste arithmetic seemingly in favour of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance on at least four seats.

A political analyst told Newsclick that on the basis of his travel to these 8 constituencies, he expected SP-BSP-RLD to win Amroha, Bulandshahr, Mathura and Nagina and on four seats which is Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri, there would be a close fight between the alliance and BJP.

There are 85 candidates in the fray in this phase, including actor-politicians Hema Malini from Mathura and UP Congress chief Raj Babbar from Fatehpur Sikri, while UP Minister S.P. Singh Baghel from Agra.

A total of 1,40,76,635 voters supposed to exercising their rights starting 7 a.m. till 6 p.m. The overall voting turnout is expected to be higher once the final figures are in.

Also Read: Elections 2019: UP Mahagathbandan Upbeat on 8 Seats in First Phase