NEW DELHI: Bengal on Tuesday completed its third and so far most violence-marred round of polling out of eight phases with a voter turnout of 77.6% across 31 seats, several notches lower than the statewide figure of 85.2% in the 2016 polls.
Neighbouring Assam wrapped up its third and final phase with 82% polling in the last 40 of its126 seats, again lower than the overall turnout of 86.9% five years ago. Two southern states and a Union territory — Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry — sealed single-phase polls across 404 constituencies with voting figures of 71.7%, 74% and 81.5%, respectively, all trailing the 2016 turnout by close to three percentage points.
When compared with the 2019 Lok Sabha poll numbers, only Puducherry exceeded the previous turnout of 81.3%. Barring Kerala, voting in the LS polls had been marginally lower than in the state polls three years earlier.
In Bengal, the eight Hooghly constituencies that reported the most law-and-order disruptions on Tuesday also recorded the highest voting percentage of the third phase at 79.3% till 5pm.
Assam’s predominantly urban seats, especially the four seats in Guwahati, witnessed the lowest turnout among those that went to polls in the final phase. Seats where migrant Muslim voters comprise the bulk of the electorate had the highest voting numbers. BJP ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chandra Mohan Patowary, Siddhartha Bhattacharya and Phani Bhusan Choudhury and BPF’s Chandan Brahma and Pramila Rani Brahma were among those in the fray in the last phase.
Kerala’s Kozhikode repeated its 2016 poll performance with the highest voting percentage of 78.3% among the state’s 140 constituencies, followed by Kannur (77.8%) and Palakkad (76.1%). Pathanamthitta registered the lowest turnout of 67.1%, taking that dubious distinction for the second consecutive assembly polls. The Malappuram LS seat, to which bypolls were held, notched up a higher-than-average turnout of 74.5%. Poll officials blamed the resurgence of Covid-19 for the overall 2.8% dip in voting compared to the last assembly polls.
A total of 26 incidents of violations were reported. The police registered 10 FIRs.
In TN, Kallakurichi topped the list of districts with higher polling (78%) than the overall turnout, followed by Namakkal (77.9%) and Ariyalur
(77.9%). Chennai trailed the rest of the state with 59.4%. “This is an approximate figure obtained over the phone (from districts). The percentage will increase once we collate all numbers,” chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo said.