The sixth phase of polling for 117 seats on Thursday saw heavy turnout across the country, but Maharashtra and Jammu & Kashmir turned out to be the laggard States.
As polling percentage witnessed a major jump in comparison to 2009 elections, West Bengal registered 82 pc polling for 6 lok Sabha seats, while Anantnag in Jammu & Kashmir saw a dismal turnout of 28 per cent, but that too was up by one per cent in comparison to the 2009 lok Sabha polls. Maharashtra polled 55.33 per cent for 19 seats.The lone seat of Puducherry saw 82 per cent polling, while Tamil Nadu registered 73 per cent turnout for all the 39 seats.
The BJP stronghold of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh registered 63 per cent, 64.4 per cent and 60 per cent polling respectively, while Uttar Pradesh recorded 58.58 per cent polling for 12 seats.In Bihar, 60 per cent voters exercised their franchise for seven seats, while Jharkhand recorded 63.4 per cent turnout for 4 seats. Assam saw an impressive turnout of 77 per cent for the six seats.
High voter enthusiasm marked the sixth phase of polling covering 117 constituencies spread across 12 States as the race to the lok Sabha crossed the two-thirds mark. Barring the killing of four policemen, three in Jharkhand, and one in Assam’s Kokrajhar district, polling was peaceful. In Kokrajhar, BSF opened fire to ward off mobs trying to capture a booth, while in Jharkhand Maoist attacked a polling team, in which four polling staff died along with police officials.
The turnout across 11 States and one Union Territory was higher than the last lok Sabha elections in 2009, in sync with the trend witnessed in the five earlier phases of polling this time.About 18 crore voters were eligible in the sixth phase to exercise their franchise to decide the electoral fate of nearly 2,100 candidates, including political heavyweights like External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid (Congress) from Farrukhabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav from Mainpuri in UP, Sushma Swaraj (BJP) from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, her party colleague Shahnawaz Hussain from Bhagalpur in Bihar, and President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit from Jangipur (Congress) in West Bengal.
After Thursday’s polling, the electoral exercise in 347, or close to two-thirds, of the total of 543 lok Sabha. Thursday’s phase was the second biggest phase of the staggered elections after the fourth phase held on April 17 covered 121 seats. Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti, DMK’s A Raja, and senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar are among some of the key candidates in Tamil Nadu this time.
The 19 lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, including six in Mumbai, are crucial as the State’s ruling Congress-NCP alliance is projected to be struggling in the State which has 48 seats.
High turnout, but Maha sluggish Prominent contestants from Maharashtra included Union Minister Milind Deora, sitting MPs Priya Dutt and Sanjay Nirupam of the Congress, social activist Medha Patkar (AAP) and Ministers in Prithviraj Chavan Ggovernment Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare and late BJP leader Mahajan’s daughter Poonam (BJP).
The turnout in Mumbai was a significant improvement over 2009 lok Sabha elections when only 41.43 per cent electorate exercised their franchise.Bollywood celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, and industry captains were among early voters to beat the afternoon heat. After a brisk start in the morning, queues at polling booths dwindled in the afternoon as the mercury rose, but voting picked up again in the evening.Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and his wife Anjali cast their votes around noon at a polling booth near their residence in suburban Bandra.
Polling in UP saw high-profile contests involving Mulayam Singh Yadav, his daughter-in-law Dimple, Salman Khurshid, and film actor Hema Malini.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who represents Assam in Rajya Sabha since 1991, and his wife Gursharan Kaur cast their vote at Dispur Government Higher Secondary School in Guwahati.