Tripura reported the highest voter turnout of 81.8 per cent, while Baramullah in Jammu and Kashmir reported a 35.06 per cent voter turnout, the lowest among the 91 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over 20 States which went to polls on Thursday. This was the first of the seven-phase election that will determine the next Lok Sabha.
Briefing newspersons after polling hours , Election Commission officials said the polls were largely peaceful barring a few sporadic incidents of violence and that the poll percentage recorded during the first phase of Lok Sabha elections was about the same as in the previous time.
81% in West Bengal
West Bengal, which saw the first of the seven phases of polls, reported a voter turnout of 81 per cent (82.22 per cent), while Manipur reported 78.2 per cent (61.95 per cent), Nagaland 78 per cent (87.9 per cent), Sikkim 69 per cent (83.64 per cent) and Mizoram 60 per cent (61.95). Election officials said that the final percentages could rise as reports were still coming in.
Andhra Pradesh reported a voter turnout of 66 per cent and Telangana of 55 per cent. Officials indicated that the figures in both the States were expected to rise as voters were still in line till late in the evening. Telangana had reported a voter turnout of 60 per cent in 2014. The seven Parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra reported a voter turnout of 56 per cent as against 63 per cent last time, while the eight Parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh reported a voter turnout of 63.69 per cent compared to 65 per cent in 2014. In four polling stations in Ghadrochali, the poll will be held at a later date as the polling party could not reach, officials said.
The four parliamentary constituencies in Bihar reported a 50 per cent turnout which is the same as last time.
Uttarakhand reported a voter turnout of 57.85 per cent, which is expected to go up . The State had reported a voter turnout of 62.15 per cent in 2014.
Assembly seats
Elections were also simultaneously held for the all the Assembly seats in Telangana and Sikkim and for some seats for the Odisha Assembly.
The 28 Assembly seats in Odisha reported a voter turnout of 68 per cent as against 73.6 per cent in 2014.