Lok Sabha poll 2024: 61.55% voting recorded in 3rd phase; Assam, Goa, Bengal see high turnout

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A voter turnout of 61.55% was recorded on Tuesday in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories with stray incidents of violence in West Bengal. Assam recorded the highest turnout at 75.30% followed by Goa at 74.32% and West Bengal at 73.93%, while Maharashtra witnessed the lowest at 54.98%, with Bihar and Gujarat doing slightly better at 56.83%, according to the figures from the Election Commission at 8 pm.

As many as 17.24 crore people, including 8.39 crore females, are eligible to vote and 1.85 lakh polling stations manned by 18.5 lakh officials have been set up.

Voter turnout until 6 pm

Over 1,300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray. Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad), Dimple Yadav (Mainpuri) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).

With the BJP bagging Surat unopposed, 25 seats in Gujarat are going to polls, besides 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the remaining 14 of the 28 in Karnataka, seven in Chhattisgarh, five in Bihar, four each in Assam and West Bengal, and all two in Goa. The Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2 seats) and nine seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Betul where elections were deferred, are polling today.

PM Modi and Shah cast their vote at booths in Ahmedabad city under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat.

A riveting contest is on in Maharashtra’s Baramati between Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar, wife of the veteran leader’s estranged nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

In Uttar Pradesh, the current phase is important for the Mulayam Singh Yadav family, with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav aiming to retain the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat. Dimple Yadav had won the seat in bypolls following the demise of her father-in-law Mulayam Singh Yadav. Akshaya Yadav, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, the national principal general secretary of SP, will try to reclaim the Firozabad seat, which he had won in 2014.

Aditya Yadav, the son of SP national general secretary Shivpal Yadav, is making his electoral debut from the Budaun Lok Sabha seat, which was represented by his cousin Dharmendra Yadav in 2014.

The fate of former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri) and AIUDF Badruddin Ajmal (Dhubri) will also be decided today.

Voting was completed in 189 seats out of 543 seats in the first two phases. The next four phases will be on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes is on June 4.

Also Watch | In an interview with CNBC-TV18, DP Satish, Group Editorial Advisor-South at Network18 and Japan Pathak, Senior Journalist discussed the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

With inputs from PTI

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow