A reported 63.50 percent of voters cast ballots in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections, which included 88 seats spread over 12 states and a union territory. According to the Election Commission (EC), most polling places were quiet.
At 8 p.m., the estimated voter participation was 63.50%; when reports from every polling place are received, this number is anticipated to rise. Furthermore, voters have until the end of polling hours to cast their ballots at polling places.
Voters originally boycotted the elections in a few villages in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura, Rajasthan’s Banswara, and Maharashtra’s Parbhani, but were eventually persuaded to take part by the authorities.
The second phase of voting took place in various states in extreme heat, starting at 7 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. Elections were held in 102 seats spread across 21 states and Union territories on April 19 for the first round of voting.
All 20 Kerala constituencies, 14 of Karnataka’s 28 seats, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 6 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Bihar, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and 1 seat each in Manipur, Tripura, and Jammu and Kashmir were all involved in the voting process.
At the end of voting on Friday, the percentage of voters who participated was roughly 63%. This is a lower percentage than the 65% recorded in the first phase of voting last week and the 68% reported in the second phase of voting in 2019.
Tripura scored the highest voting percentage at 79.46 percent, followed by Manipur at 77.32 percent, according to figures from the Election Commission. Bihar recorded 55.08 percent of the vote, while Uttar Pradesh recorded 54.85 percent. Two polling places reported voter turnouts over 100% as the Tripura East (ST) constituency’s polling peacefully came to an end. The Chief Election Officer of Tripura made a statement on Friday attributing this to the use of Election Duty Certificates (EDC).
In Manipur, where there has been an increased presence of security forces during voting, 77.32 percent of voters cast ballots.
The voter turnout in Uttar Pradesh was 7% lower than the 62% voting recorded for the same seats in 2019.
In Kerala, seventy-one percent of voters cast ballots. In Kerala, 72.70 percent of voters cast ballots in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.
In Madhya Pradesh, 57.88 percent of voters cast ballots.
In the five Assamese parliamentary constituencies, approximately 71.11 percent of the 77,26,668 people cast ballots during this phase.
In eight Maharashtra constituencies, the voter participation was 57.83 percent; in Rajasthan, it was 64.07 percent.
Jammu and Kashmir recorded 71.91 percent of voters, whereas Bihar recorded 55.08 percent. West Bengal saw a voter turnout of 71.84 percent. In West Bengal, the Election Commission received around 300 complaints, most of them about defective EVMs.
According to official data, 53.30 percent of voters cast ballots in the Gautam Buddh Nagar seat of Uttar Pradesh. In contrast, the Election Commission’s data shows that 60.47 percent of voters participated in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 60.38 percent did so in 2014, and 48 percent did so in 2009. During this phase, nearly half of Bengaluru voters did not cast a ballot. Three of the city’s metropolitan constituencies, Bangalore Central, Bangalore North, and Bangalore South, had noticeably lower voter turnout. The approximate turnout in these constituencies was 52.81 per cent for Bangalore Central, 54.42 per cent for Bangalore North, and 53.15 per cent for Bangalore South.
