Lok Sabha Elections: 63.8% polling in sixth phase, Bengal sees more violence

NEW DELHI: Polling for the penultimate phase on Sunday saw 63.8% turnout in 59 parliamentary constituencies amid fresh incidents of violence in West Bengal, which also polled the highest. There were reports of mobs in Bengal being fired on, with one such mob targeting BJP candidate from Ghatal Bharati Ghosh, and poll boycotts at a few polling stations in Jhargram and Purulia.
There was a blast at Chaibasa in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum parliamentary constituency, apart from community clashes at Jamshedpur, though the Election Commission claimed they did not affect polling. The polling across six states and a Union territory was slightly higher than the 63.7% recorded in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. According to the figures available at 11pm, the turnouts were moderate to high across the seven states and UT, which included Delhi with 60.5% polling. West Bengal was top of the table with 80.5% turnout (down from 84.98% in 2014), followed by Haryana with 69.5%, Madhya Pradesh with 64.9%, Jharkhand with 64.5%, Delhi with 60.5%, Bihar with 59.3% and UP with 54.7%.
With Sunday’s phase, polling for 483 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats has been completed. Statewise, polling is over for 28 states and Union territories. The seventh and last phase of polling on May 19 will cover 59 seats across eight states and UTs — UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chandigarh. This will be followed by counting on May 23, for which the EC has made special arrangements, including technical innovations to enable seamless and real-time dissemination of results.
For Delhi, where all seven Lok Sabha seats went to the polls on Sunday, the voter turnout was less than that recorded in the past three polls — 67.2% in the 2015 assembly polls, 65.1% in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and 65.6% in the 2013 assembly polls. However, it was much higher than the 51.84% turnout recorded in 2009. EC sources said the turnout was tentative and likely to go up as voters were queued up till late at some polling stations.
In Tamluk in West Bengal, the CRPF was forced to resort to blank fire to disperse an unruly mob, after which polling resumed and went off peacefully. In Haldia assembly segment, EVMs were damaged in a polling station prior to the start of polling. In Ghatal, BJP candidate Bharati Ghosh faced resistance from female voters. Thereafter, in another area of the same constituency, there was stone-pelting by villagers on her car.
Security personnel on the spot lathicharged and subsequent firing injured one Bakhtiyar Khan. Meanwhile, the EC has directed that Mukta Arya be posted as Bankura district magistrate with immediate effect and join before commencement of scrutiny on Monday. Bankura went to the polls on Sunday. In Sheohar parliamentary constituency in Bihar, accidental firing by a home guard killed a polling officer prior to mock polling at 5.30am. The EC said the EVM/VVPAT replacement rate on Sunday was one of the lowest, with 0.35% ballot units, 0.38% control units and 1.52% of VVPATs replaced. Till the sixth phase of polling, seizures by the EC totalled Rs 3,415 crore, which included Rs 827 crore cash, liquor worth Rs 285 crore, drugs worth Rs 1,261 crore, precious metals worth Rs 984 crore and freebies worth Rs 57 crore.