With 'urban apathy' casting its shadow on the sixth phase of polling, the voter turnout stood at 60 per cent as of 8 pm on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six States and two Union Territories amid adverse weather.
West Bengal recorded the highest turnout at 78.19 per cent amid sporadic incidents of violence reported from some areas while Jammu and Kashmir recorded voter turnout at 52.28 per cent, highest in the last 35 years.
In the 2019 last general elections, the erstwhile Anantnag seat saw a meagre turnout of 8.9 per cent. However, the boundaries of the constituency extended across the Pir Panjal to include Jammu's Rajouri and Poonch.
The three parliamentary constituencies in the valley namely Srinagar (38.49 per cent), Baramulla (59.1 per cent) and Anantnag-Rajouri (51.35 per cent as of 5 pm) recorded voter turnout which is highest in many decades.
Healthy polling continued in Anantnag and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir which recorded 44.41 percent. Encouraged by the voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir the Chief Election Commission Rajiv Kumar said the Election Commission will "very soon" initiate the process of holding assembly polls in the Union Territory.
As per the Election Commission's voter turnout, Haryana's polling percentage is at 58.33 per cent, Bihar at 53.30 per cent, Jharkhand at 62.74 per cent, Uttar Pradesh at 54.03 per cent, Odisha at 60.07.60 per cent.
Bishnupur Parliamentary constituency of West Bengal witnessed the highest voter turnout of 81.47 per cent while Siwan in Bihar recorded lowest at 47.49 per cent in this phase.
The Election Commission has also come out with Lok Sabha constituency-wise data on the number of votes cast in the first five phases of the elections and asserted that there is a pattern in creating false narratives and mischievous design to vitiate the electoral process. It said that any alteration in the number of votes polled is not possible.
By the end of phase six, elections had been completed in 486 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. The electoral process has also been completed in Haryana, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. The remaining 57 seats will vote in the last phase on June 1. The results of seven phases will be declared on June 4.
With large parts of India sweltering under a heatwave, arrangements for cold water, coolers, fans and tents were made at several polling stations. Wheelchairs were also kept for the assistance of elderly voters.
Among the prominent candidates in this phase are Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Rao Inderjit Singh, BJP's Maneka Gandhi, Sambit Patra, Manohar Khattar and Manoj Tiwari, Mehbooba Mufti and Congress's Kanhaiya Kumar.
While voting was largely peaceful, polls in West Bengal were marred by clashes between the ruling Trinamool Congress and BJP in Ghatal and Kanthi constituencies. In Jhargram, senior BJP leader and its candidate Pranat Tudu claimed his convoy was attacked in Garbeta.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge urged voters to exercise their right to franchise in the penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections in large numbers. "Every vote counts, make yours count too, " Modi said in his poll day message on X.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, who is contesting from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir, staged a sit-in outside Bijbehara police station on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in Anantnag district against alleged detention of her party workers and polling agents.
She also claimed that outgoing calls on her mobile number have been suspended. Police, however, said those detained are over ground workers (OGWs) and the action was taken to ensure smooth conduct of elections.
Mehbooba's daughter and PDP leader Iltija Mufti alleged polling was being deliberately slowed down at a booth in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency, a charge denied by the administration.
In Odisha, 42 Assembly constituencies went to polls simultaneously with the Parliamentary constituencies. Scenes of colourful jubilation at having exercised their cherished franchise emerged from across the State which recorded a voter turnout of 60.07 per cent as of 7:45 pm.
In Haryana, BJP's Karnal Lok Sabha seat candidate Manohar Lal Khattar and Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who is contesting the Karnal Assembly bypoll, were among the first to cast their votes at their respective booths.
Saini, accompanied by his family members, cast his vote in his native Mirjapur Majra village in Ambala district's Naraingarh. Khattar exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Karnal's Prem Nagar.
In West Bengal, voting was held in the tribal belt JangalMahal region, spanning five districts. A hotspot for identity politics, the region sends eight representatives to Lok Sabha from Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura, and Bishnupur seats. Out of the eight seats, the BJP won five and TMC bagged three in the 2019 polls.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, among the 58 seats polling today in the sixth phase, the BJP alone had won 40. And the Congress could not win any of these seats. The voter turnout in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections held on May 20 was estimated to be 62.15 per cent, which is higher than the polling in the same seats in 2019 when it was 61.82 per cent.
The fourth phase of polling held on May 13 recorded a turnout of 69.16 per cent while the third phase held on 7 recorded 65.68 per cent voter turnout. The second phase held on April 26 saw 66.71 per cent turnout and the first phase of polling held on April 19 saw 66.1 turnout, according to the Election Commission of India.
