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. The turnout figure is subject to small corrections but indicates there is not much to separate the voting five years ago in these constituencies.
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.
Seizures across country at £263.2 mn till April 18
Maoists had earlier called for a poll boycott in Odisha’s Kandhamal. The EC said a polling staffer died of a heart attack in Karnataka while a voter waiting in queue to cast his vote in Tamil Nadu met the same fate. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha poll in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, was cancelled in view of excessive abuse of money power and seizure of over £1.1 million meant to bribe voters by the DMK candidate. Similarly, the poll in Tripura (East) parliamentary constituency was deferred to April 23 in the wake of law-and-order concerns.
Till April 18, seizures across the country were put at £263.2 million, including £69.7 million in cash, liquor worth £21.9million, drugs worth £115.1 million, precious metals including gold valued at £51.2 million and other freebies worth £5.1 million.
Between April 12 and 18, acting on requests by the EC, Facebook took down 25 posts, Twitter 38 posts and YouTube and WhatsApp two posts each, which were in violation of the model code and other election-related laws.
In the print media, 51 cases of paid news were reported, taking such cases reported so far to 107. Also, around 379 cases of model code violation were uploaded on the EC website. Over 100,000 poll code violations have been reported via CVigil app, of which 76% were found correct.
