As the results have already been announced and the Government formation has begun, the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday lifted the model code of conduct (MCC) and said the overall voter turnout in the Lok Sabha elections was recorded at 65.79 per cent.

In a communication to the Union Cabinet Secretary and State Chief Secretaries, the EC said as results of Lok Sabha elections and Assembly polls in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, along with some Assembly bypolls have been declared, “model code of conduct has ceased to be in operation with immediate effect”.

As per the EC’s data, in the 2019 parliamentary polls, the turnout was 67.40 per cent. In 2019, India had 91.20 crore voters and out of these, 61.5 crore had exercised their franchise. In the 2024 polls, the size of the electorate grew to 96.88 crore voters.

The women voter turnout was 64.72 per cent while that of men was 63.11 per cent. The turnout of persons of the third gender was 22.33 per cent, the data showed. Similar trends were witnessed in the fifth and sixth phase of the polls held on May 20 and May 25 respectively.            

In the fifth phase, the women voter turnout was 63 per cent and that of men was 61.48 per cent. In the sixth phase, 61.95 per cent men and 64.95 per cent women voted, according to EC data.  The overall voter turnout of the 2024 general election was 65.79 per cent, it said.

In the seventh phase, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh were among the States that had a higher women voter turnout.

In Himachal Pradesh, the turnout of women voters was 72.64 per cent while that of men was 69.19 per cent, it was 73.75 per cent for women and 68.10 per cent for men in Jharkhand and it was 76.50 per cent for women and 72.42 per cent for men in Odisha.  In Uttar Pradesh, the women voter turnout was 58.56 per cent compared to 53.47 per cent for men.

EC’s data showed that in absolute numbers, out of 10.6 crore electors, 6.42 crore exercised their franchise in the last phase of parliamentary polls. As many as 57 seats went to polls in the seventh phase on June 1. The sixth phase of polls held on May 25 recorded a turnout of 63.37 per cent. Fifty-eight constituencies spread across eight states went to polls in the sixth phase.

According to data issued earlier by the poll panel, the fifth phase of the general elections held on May 20 recorded a turnout of 62.20 per cent. As many as 49 seats in eight States went to polls in this phase. The fourth phase, in which 86 constituencies in 10 States went to polls on May 13, recorded a turnout of 69.16 per cent, the highest among the six phases.

The first phase of the Lok Sabha elections held on April 19 in 102 seats across 21 States recorded a turnout of 66.14 per cent.

In the second phase, held on April 26 in 88 seats across 13 states, the turnout was recorded at 66.71 per cent, marginally higher than the first phase. In the third phase, 94 seats across 11 States went to polls on May 7 and recorded a turnout of 65.68 per cent.

On Thursday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar, along with two Election Commissioners on Thursday presented details of newly elected Lok Sabha members to President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. The meeting is part of the process for the formation of the next or the 18th Lok Sabha.

CEC Rajiv Kumar, accompanied by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, met the President at 4.30 pm, a statement issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. “A copy of the notification issued by the Election Commission of India, in terms of Section 73 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, containing the names of the members elected to the House of the People following the General Elections to the 18th Lok Sabha, was submitted by them to the President,” it said.