Sixty four per cent of the electorate across nine states exercised their franchise in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polling on Monday (April 29), amid some incidents of violence in West Bengal. Reports of clashes in West Bengal, however, coincided with the state notching the highest turnout at 76.72%. This is in keeping with high turnout in the state in the previous phases as well. Polling was held for 72 parliamentary seats, including a part of Anantnag constituency in J&K. The overall turnout was slightly higher than the 63.05% recorded in 2014.
Phase 4 also saw the end of assembly polls, being conducted across four states. Polling for nearly 373 (68%) of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies across 24 states and Union Territories has been concluded.
Violence in West Bengal
While voting was largely peaceful, a few incidents of violence in West Bengal and EVM glitches were reported. In Asansol constituency in West Bengal, BJP candidate and Union minister Babul Supriyo is alleged to have entered a polling station with his armed security guards in violation of rules and misbehaved with security personnel who tried to stop him. An FIR was registered against him and also against unknown persons for breaking the glass of his car.
Sources said Supriyo’s allegation that his agent was not allowed to enter the polling station was not found to be correct, with the observers reporting that the agent arrived only after Supriyo. The EC said a complaint by Congress leader Sanjay Jha that he could erase the ink on his finger soon after voting was being verified, even though the chief electoral officer informed that the ink was duly tested at the CSIR laboratory and no issue was reported.
Another complaint by Congress candidate in Dhaurahra Jitin Prasada that someone had cast votes against the names of his sisters was found valid and attributed to mistake by a polling officer. An EC official said a 'tender' vote could still be cast in such cases. In Bardhaman, BJP candidate P C Das entered the polling station with BJP flags. Stones were pelted at his car later and an FIR was registered on Das’s complaint. In Ranaghat, a bomb exploded 350 metres from the polling station, in which three persons sustained minor injuries. The bomber was nabbed.
In Birbhum, 10-15 young men entered the polling station with mobile phones and started making videos. When the security personnel stopped them, around 150 people from the nearby village came and threw stones at the polling station. A jawan fired at the roof to disperse the crowd. Polling went off peacefully thereafter.
Turnout lowest at 8% in J&K’s Anantnag
In states, where BJP had won 30 out of 32 seats in 2014, nearly 68% turnout was recorded in Rajasthan for the 13 seats where polls were held on Monday. The turnout was nearly 59% per cent in Uttar Pradesh where the fate of candidates for 13 seats were sealed. In Madhya Pradesh, the turnout was nearly 71.57% for the six parliamentary seats.
The voter turnout was the lowest at 9.79% in J&K’s Anantnag constituency, where polling was held only in Kulgam. In 2014, Kulgam had recorded 37.34% turnout.
In Bihar, about 59% voters exercised their franchise while in the neighbouring Jharkhand, the turnout was 64.38%. In an incident in Chhatra, Jharkhand, a ballot unit was damaged by the last voter just 10 minutes prior to conclusion of polling. However, no voter came after that. Since the control unit and VVPAT were intact, the polled votes were not affected.
In Maharashtra and Odisha, where polling for all Lok Sabha seats ended on Monday, turnout was nearly 56% and 64.5% respectively. With fresh voter registration on Tuesday frozen for the current polls, there are now 911 million voters on the rolls. This includes nearly 19.1 million first-time voters aged 18-19 years.
Phase 4 saw replacement of 0.44% ballot units, 0.46% control units and 1.91% VVPATs. Around 1.33% VVPATs had to be replaced as they went out of order. As per progressive seizure report till March 29, total seizures stood at £327.4 million, including £78.5 million in cash, liquor worth £ 24.9 million, drugs worth £121.4 million, gold and precious metals worth £97.2 million and other freebies worth £5.3 million.
Celebrities queue up as Mumbai votes
Actor Priyanka Chopra, Congress candidate from Mumbai North and actor-turned politician Urmila Matondar, BJP lawmaker and actor Paresh Rawal and actors Rekha and Madhuri Dixit Nene were among the early celeb voters who reached election booths in Mumbai to cast their votes in all six seats of country's financial capital. Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani voted at GD Somani School in Cuffe Parade area soon after polling began at 7 am. Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, Adi Godrej, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das were also among the early voters.
"Every vote is a voice that counts," Priyanka tweeted after casting her vote. Madhuri Dixit, who voted at a polling booth in Juhu, urged citizens to "vote wisely." Actor Aamir Khan, along with his wife and filmmaker Kiran Rao, visited the polling booth at St. Anne's High School in Bandra just before 10 am. "It's an extremely important day for all of us. It is very important for each and every individual to be part of this. There should be love, prosperity and progress in the country. People should keep this in mind and come out to vote," he said after casting his vote.
Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan, along with wife Jaya, voted at a polling booth in Juhu. Daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and son Abhishek Bachchan also accompanied him. Actor and producer Ajay Devgn was seen casting his vote at a polling booth with wife Kajol. Former Chairman of Film and Television Institute of India and actor Anupam Kher, after casting his vote, tweeted a video and urged people to "participate in the festival of democracy". Actors Kareena Kapoor, Kangna Ranaut and Varun Dhawan also voted before 12 pm. Among other actors who voted are Salman Khan, Vidya Balan, Ranveer Singh and Ranbir Kapooor.
Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran and Adi Godrej voted earlier in the day. N Chandrasekaran and his wife voted at a polling booth at Worli in Central Mumbai and Godrej voted in the Malabar Hill area in South Mumbai. Mahindra and Mahindra's managing director Pawan Goenka voted an election booth in Juhu. HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh said employment generation is one of the key issues in the elections as he voted at a polling booth in South Mumbai's Peddar Road. Paresh Rawal earlier in the day appealed to the people to "come out and vote". Actor and rugby player Rahul Bose "returned from a shooting in Hyderabad" to cast his vote.
BJP's Poonam Mahajan is contesting against Congress's Priya Dutt; Urmila Matondkar has been fielded by the Congress against BJP lawmaker Gopal Shetty in Mumbai North. Congress leader Milind Deora is contesting from Mumbai South against Shiv Sena Sena's sitting lawmaker Arvind Sawant.
Seventy two Lok Sabha seats across nine states, including 17 seats in Maharashtra, went to the polls in the fourth phase of seven-phased national elections which began on April 11.
Lower turnout in first phase
Polling in the first phase on April 11 across 20 states and union territories saw a lower tournout. Meanwhile, Tripura and West Bengal recorded 81.8% and 80% voting respectively. Jammu recorded 72% polling while terrorism-affected Baramulla recorded 35% polling, which was not far from 38.5% clocked in 2014. With the conclusion of the first phase, polling was completed in 10 states and Union Territories. Also, assembly elections concluded in Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, while Odisha had the first phase. This is the first Lok Sabha election where VVPATs were used on a 100% basis.
Clashes in Andhra Pradesh
Clashes between party workers and supporters were reported in Andhra Pradesh. There were around 15 cases of EVMs being damaged, including six in Andhra Pradesh, five in Arunachal Pradesh, two in Manipur and one each in Bihar and West Bengal. In Andhra Pradesh, Jana Sena candidate from Guntakal assembly constituency Madhusudan Gupta, agitated at an EVM not working, smashed it on the floor, leading to his arrest.
UP sees dip in polling percentage
Uttar Pradesh reported a dip in voter turnout. Eight Lok Sabha seats in Western UP recorded a 63.69 per cent turnout.
67.7 per cent in second phase
The second phase of polling covering 95 Lok Sabha constituencies across 12 states saw an overall 67.7% turnout, as compared to 69.6% in 2014 with voting passing off peacefully, barring a few incidents of EVMs being damaged in West Bengal and Manipur. Brisk polling was recorded in states and UTs including West Bengal (76.4%), Assam (76.4%), Puducherry (77.5%), Chhattisgarh (73%), Manipur (77.9%) and Tamil Nadu (71.3%). Karnataka averaged a turnout of 68.1%, Odisha 64%, Bihar 62.04%, UP 62% and Maharashtra 61.8%.
The only state that saw a low-to-moderate turnout was Jammu & Kashmir (45.7%), with Srinagar recording just 14% polling, significantly lower than 25.9% in 2014 but higher than 7.12% in the parliamentary by-election in 2017.
Three parliamentary constituencies in Chhattisgarh where polls were held - Maoist-hit Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund - saw an impressive turnout of over 73%, up from 66% recorded in Phase 1 polling on April 11. Though two violent incidents were reported in the state, there were no casualties.
Unlike the first phase, when many complaints were received from states like Andhra Pradesh about EVMs and VVPATs not working, there were no major grievances reported on this count. The EC said no more than 0.37% of the total EVM ballot units, 0.4% of the EVM control units and 1.45% of VVPATs were replaced in all.
Overall voter turnout at 63.04% in third phase
The estimated voter turnout across all states and union territories for the third phase 3 was at 63.04%. Assam recorded 74.65%, Bihar 59.97%, Goa 71.09%, Gujarat 60.48%, J&K 12.86%,
Karnataka 64.15%, Kerala 70.20%, Maharashtra 56.25%, Odisha 58.18%, Tripura 78.37%, Uttar Pradesh 57.64%, West Bengal 79.36%, Chhattisgarh 65.14%, Dadra & Nagar Haveli 71.43% and
Daman & Diu 65.34%
Violence in West Bengal
West bengal saw widespread clashes between party workers. One person has been reportedly killed in clashes between BJP and Congress workers in Baligram in West Bengal’s Murshidabad. Earlier in the day, TMC and BJP workers razed each other’s camp offices in Motigunj. When polling started there were reports that crude bombs had also been hurled at TMC workers in Murshidabad’s Domkal municipality, injuring three. According to reports from Motiganj in North 24 Parganas saw clashes between BJP and TMC workers. The report said that TMC workers reportedly ransacked BJP’s camp office and then BJP workers did the same to the TMC camp office in the area.
Phase 3 not only saw some star candidates like Congress president Rahul Gandhi and BJP President Amit Shah and also saw some star voters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi registered his vote from a booth in the Ranip area of Ahmedabad. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh voted from Guwahati. LK Advani, Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley also voted in Ahmedabad.
All the seats in Gujarat (26), Kerala (20), Goa (2), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1) and Daman and Diu (1) went to the polls in the third phase.
