NEW DELHI, Apr 23: A high voter turnout was recorded in the third and largest phase of Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday, covering 116 constituencies, amid complaints of EVM malfunctioning in many states and killing of a man outside a booth in West Bengal.
Election Commission of India (ECI) officials in Delhi put the voting percentage at 64.66. The final figures are likely to change as queues of voters were seen at several centres even after the scheduled time for voting ended.
Polling was also held in Anantnag seat in Jammu & Kashmir, which saw a turnout of 13.61 percent. Elections for this seat are being conducted in three phases.
With Tuesday’s polling, voting has been held in 302 Lok Sabha constituencies, apart from Anantnag.
In Gujarat, a turnout of 58.96 percent was registered till 5 pm for the 26 seats.
Key political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, party veteran LK Advani, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Congress leader Ahmed Patel cast their votes at different places in the state.
The polling percentage was 70.28 by 5 pm in Kerala, from where Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, party MP Shashi Tharoor and union minister K Alphons are among those who are trying their luck.
An estimated 56.71 percent of voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm Tuesday for the 10 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh amid reports EVM snags at some booths.
There were complaints of EVM malfunctioning at some booths and were attended to, Chief Electoral Officer L Venkateshwar Lu said in Lucknow.
A turnout of 57.01 was recorded at the end of voting hours across 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra. The two Lok Sabha seats in neighbouring Goa registered an average 70.90 percent voting till 5 pm.
Chhattisgarh saw a turnout of 64.68 percent till 5 pm.
In West Bengal, a group of men attacked 52-year-old Tiyarul Sheikh with sharp weapons following an altercation when he went to vote at a booth in the Baligram primary school in the Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituency, police sources said.
The Congress candidate for the Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat, Abu Hena, claimed that Tiyarul was a party worker and was killed by TMC cadres.
The ECI has sought a report from the Murshidabad district magistrate.
According to the latest data available from the ECI, an estimated 61 percent polling was recorded in Odisha, 78.97 percent in West Bengal, 71.47 percent in Assam, 54.91 percent in Bihar and 77.28 percent in Tripura.
Lok Sabha polls are being held in seven phases for 543 seats on 11 April, 18 April, 23 April, 29 April, 6 May, 12 May and 19 May, and counting will be on 23 May 23. (PTI)
