Voting for the six-week-long 2024 Lok Sabha elections came to an end on Saturday. The Election Commission of India (ECI) said the approximate voter turnout for the seventh phase was approximately 59.5 per cent at 9 p.m. for 57 parliamentary constituencies, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi seat.

Adding up the polling percentages for all seven phases of general elections this year, the approximate voter turnout is 65.34 per cent, over two percentage points lower than the 2019 polls, when it stood at 67.4 per cent.

Simultaneously, 42 assembly constituencies of Odisha also went to polls on Saturday. The results for the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh will be announced on June 4. While the counting of votes for state legislative assemblies of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will take place on June 2, the ECI said in an official statement. The revised voter turnout figures will be released by the Commission around 11.45, it stated.

With voting ending and exit polls indicating a majority for the NDA, PM Modi, who concluded his 45-hour-long meditation at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari, thanked voters in advance for voting in “record numbers to reelect the NDA government” for “bringing qualitative change” in the lives of the poor and downtrodden.

“I can say with confidence that the people of India have voted in record numbers to reelect the NDA government. They have seen our track record and the manner in which our work has brought about a qualitative change in the lives of the poor, marginalised and downtrodden,” he posted on X.

“At the same time, they have seen how the reforms in India have propelled India to being the fifth largest global economy. Every scheme of ours has reached the intended beneficiaries without any bias or leakage,” was another thread of post on the microblogging site in which he also thanked cadres of the NDA for making this happen.

He attacked “the opportunistic” INDI Alliance for failing to “strike a chord with the voters”. “They are casteist, communal and corrupt. This alliance, aimed to protect a handful of dynasties, failed to present a futuristic vision for the nation. Through the campaign, they only enhanced their expertise on one thing- Modi bashing. Such regressive politics has been rejected by the people,” he observed.

The Commission said in a statement to media that it “extends its deepest and most profound gratitude to voters, all the stakeholders including polling personnel, law enforcement agencies, security and paramilitary forces, volunteers, Indian Railways and Airforce, amongst many who made this mammoth exercise a grand success”.

Barring some reports of violence, especially in West Bengal, polling across the country was held smoothly and peacefully over seven phases. The Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar, along with Election Commissioners (ECs) Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, kept a close watch on every aspect of the poll process during the seven-phase General Elections.

Though the scorching summer impacted people’s participation, Jammu and Kashmir shone bright with a voter turnout of 58.58%, the highest in the last 35 years. “The Kashmir valley registered a voter turnout of 51.05%, a massive jump of over 30 points from the previous elections in the 3 PCs that went to polls in the valley. The feat is testament to the credibility and fairness of the election process and a ringing endorsement of the trust reposed by the voters in the power of the ballot,” the Commission said.

The ECI said women’s participation in these elections has also seen significant strides. In the fifth and sixth phases, it added that women’s voter turnout was higher than men’s.

The Commission said the home-voting facility, introduced in the history of Lok Sabha elections on a pan-India basis, saw democracy taken to the doorsteps of those encumbered by physical limitations. Many voters aged above 85 and PwD with 40% benchmark disability opted to vote from the comfort of their homes.

Stringent security measures created a conducive environment for voters to cast their votes without fear or intimidation.

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