As the Lok Sabha election’s Phase two takes place, a stark contrast in voter participation emerges, with Tripura leading and Maharashtra lagging behind. Within the first four hours of polling across 88 constituencies in 13 States and Union territories, voter turnout ranged from 18.83 per cent (in Maharashtra) to 36.42 per cent (in Tripura) by 11 am. Kerala, on the other hand, reported brisk polling with 25.61 per cent of voters casting their ballots, despite reports of electronic voting machine-EVM glitches in certain booths.
One elderly person reportedly died in Palakkad district’s Ottapalam area after casting his vote. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, State Assembly’s Opposition Leader VD Satheesan, BJP state president K Surendran, saffron party candidates Suresh Gopi and Anil Antony as well as Congress’ KC Venugopal and Shafi Parambil were among the early voters. In Karnataka, an estimated 22.34 per cent turnout was reported with long queues seen at polling booths.
IT industry veteran NR Narayana Murthy, his wife and nominated member of Rajya Sabha Sudha Murty, cricketing legend Rahul Dravid, Union Finance Minister and Rajya Sabha member Nirmala Sitharaman, and Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena were among the early voters in Bengaluru city.
The erstwhile Mysuru royal family scion and BJP candidate from Mysore Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, along with wife Trishika Kumari Devi and “Rajmata” Pramoda Devi Wadiyar voted in Mysuru.
Madhya Pradesh saw about 28.15 per cent of voters casting their ballots in six Lok Sabha constituencies while voting for three Lok Sabha constituencies, having Naxalite presence, in Chhattisgarh saw 35.47 per cent of the electorate exercising their franchise.
The early voters in Madhya Pradesh include Union minister Prahlad Patel in Damoh Lok Sabha seat, which he represented in 2019, and Union Minister Virendra Kumar and his wife in Tikamgarh seat.
West Bengal recorded nearly 31.25 per cent voters exercising their vote in three Lok Sabha constituencies. However, the Election Commission registered 290 complaints, mostly related to EVM malfunctioning, in the State.
In Manipur, a voter turnout of 33.22 per cent was recorded till 11 am while in Bihar, 21.68 per cent of over 93 lakh voters in five Lok Sabha constituencies exercised their franchise.
In the north, Uttar Pradesh recorded an average voter turnout of 24.31 per cent in eight parliamentary constituencies while Jammu saw more than 26.61 per cent of the over 17.8 lakh eligible voters exercised their franchise.
Rajasthan recorded nearly 26.84 percent voter turnout across 13 Lok Sabha seats and one assembly constituency.
Assam saw 27.43 per cent voters turning out to exercise their franchise.
Prominent candidates who exercised their franchise are Assam Minister for Excise, Transport and Fisheries Parimal Suklabaidya and his Congress rival Surya Kanta Sarkar in Silchar (SC), Congress candidate Joyram Engleng in Diphu (ST) and sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi in Nagaon.
Several senior BJP and Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor of the Congress, and Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Kailash Choudhary and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, are in the fray in the 88 seats where polling is underway.
In 2019, the BJP had won 52 and its existing allies 12 of these seats, including seven of eight in Uttar Pradesh, all 13, eight and seven in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh respectively, and four of the five seats each in Assam and Bihar.
The constituents of the now I.N.D.I.A. bloc had won 23 seats in the last general election. Polling was held in 102 seats in the the first phase polls on April 19.
The turnout in the first phase was recorded at 62.37 per cent which may still be revised upwards as votes are tallied. The voting percentage in the first phase in 2019 was 69.43 per cent when 91 seats went to the polls.
