Lok Sabha 2019: 36% Voters Ignored Voting In Fourth Phase
- 29-Apr-2019
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New Delhi: This is our love to nation. We are ready to eat honey but not ready for sericulture given by Constituion. It is witnessed that 36% voters have ignored voting in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections. Violences were seen in West Bengal and Odisha, and EVM glitches at various places, registered an overall turnout of 64 per cent on Monday. Of the nine states that went to poll, Bengal recorded the highest voters turnout at 76.47 per cent. Seventy-one parliamentary constituencies voted in the fourth phase. Here are highlights from today’s voting.
In Rajasthan, 67.13 per cent turnout was recorded in 13 Lok Sabha seats. Tribal dominated seat of Banswara recorded the highest voting percentage at 72.34, followed by Barmer which recorded 72.21 per cent voting.
An average 66.09 per cent voter turnout was recorded in Madhya Pradesh across six Lok Sabha seats. Uttar Pradesh witnessed a 57.58 per cent voting in 13 constituencies in the state.
In Bihar’s five constituencies, voter turnout was recorded at 53.67 per cent, while in Jammu and Kashmir, less than nine per cent of 3.45 lakh electorate exercised their franchise in the Kulgam district– part of Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency — amidst stringent security arrangements and isolated incidents of stone-pelting near polling stations.
Billionaires and Bollywood stars lined up outside polling stations along with the common folks in Mumbai, which recorded 51.11 per cent voting, almost similar to the voting percentage of 51.59 in the 2014 polls. Polling was held in six constituencies in Mumbai and 11 other seats in Maharashtra.
In Odisha, an estimated 64.05 per cent of the 95.06 lakh voters exercised their franchise in six Lok Sabha seats. The state also saw simultaneous polling in 41 assembly constituencies. Polling is not being held in Patkura assembly seat, where voting will be held on May 19 following the death of the BJD candidate.
Meanwhile, in Jharkhand’s three parliamentary constituencies – Lohardaga (ST), Palamu (SC) and Chatra, a turnout of 63.40 was recorded.
EVM glitches
The Congress made 30 complaints to the Election Commission about alleged glitches in EVMs across the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra. A majority of the complaints came in from Dhule and Nandurbar, the party said, prompting ally NCP’s state chief Jayant Patil to claim that something was “fishy” in the two seats.
Meanwhile, in Uttar Pradesh, Opposition Samajwadi Party urged EC to remove police chief OP Singh from the post alleging he was “favouring” the ruling BJP and affecting elections. The party also alleged that in at at least two polling booths the Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machine showed the voting for the BJP when the ballot was cast for the SP.
Over 100 polling booths were replaced in Rajasthan due to malfunctioning after voting began.
Incidents of violence were recorded in parts of West Bengal. In Barabani, BJP candidate from Asansol and Union minister Babul Supriyo’s vehicle was vandalised allegedly by TMC workers outside a polling station while in Dubrajpur area central security forces personnel reportedly opened fire in the air to disperse irate people who attacked them when they were barred from entering the booths with mobile phones. An FIR was registered against Supriyo for allegedly getting into an argument with polling officials.
The ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP accused each other of intimidating voters in the state, which has seen violence in all previous three phases despite stepped up central forces deployment.
Meanwhile, a Congress worker was stabbed to death, while three polling personnel were suspended for violation of norms in Odisha.
Celebrity voting
Bollywood celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman and Aamir, and Deepika Padukone cast their votes in Mumbai. Priyanka Chopra, Rekha, Aamir and wife Kiran Rao were among the early voters. Actor Anushka Sharma, who cast her vote in an all-women “sakhi” polling booth in Versova, part of the Mumbai North West parliamentary constituency, was pleasantly surprised to get a kokam sharbat and a sanitary napkin packet.
