 "Bengal leads in voter turnout")
The trend of high voter turnout, recorded in earlier phases of the current Lok Sabha elections, continued in what was the sixth phase of the nine-phase elections, with 117 constituencies going to polls on Thursday.
Mumbai, which historically has a poor record of voter turnout, recorded 53 per cent for its six Lok Sabha seats. It was over 10 per cent higher than the 41 per cent recorded in 2009.
West Bengal registered a whopping 82 per cent for six Lok Sabha seats, Uttar Pradesh had 58.58 per cent for 12 seats, Madhya Pradesh 64.4 per cent for 10 seats, Tamil Nadu 73 per cent for 39 seats and Rajasthan 59.2 per cent for five seats.
The turnout in Chhattisgarh was 62.5 per cent for seven seats, Bihar 62.5 per cent for seven seats each, Jharkhand 63.4 per cent for four seats and Assam 77 per cent for six seats. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his 41st birthday by exercising his voting right but several notable people couldn’t find their names on voters’ lists. These included HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, former Union minister and veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani and Marathi actor Atul Kulkarni.
“I have been now told that I have to refill the form for the next elections. It is surprising that my servant has received his election voting card but my entire family’s name was missing. I was the first to reach the booth to vote and found that our names are missing,” Parekh said.
State Bank of India Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, Tata Consultancy Services chief N Chandrasekaran, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive of HDFC Keki Mistry and Chairman of infrastructure major HCC Ajit Gulabchand were some from the corporate and banking world who exercised their right.
Currently, the NCP-Congress combine hold all the six seats of Mumbai. Overall, Maharashtra’s 19 seats, including six of Mumbai, recorded 55.53 per cent, which was nine per cent more than that of 2009.
In Tamil Nadu, the voting percentage improved fractionally to 73 per cent from 72.98 in 2009, as the state voted for all its 39 seats. The state had recorded its highest ever voter turnout of 76.6 per cent in 1967. Actors Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, accompanied with her friend Sasikala, and DMK chief M Karunanidhi were some of the prominent Chennai residents who voted in the morning.
The Election Commission asked police to lodge a case against 10 companies, including IT majors Wipro, HCL, TCS, Voltas and Travel Trend for allegedly “restraining” their employees from voting. However, Wipro and TCS claimed their offices were shut, while HCL and others did not respond to Business Standard’s queries.
The neighbouring Union Territory of Puducherry also witnessed a record turnout of 83 per cent — up from 79.85 per cent in the 2009 elections.
Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir, where People’s Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti is a candidate, had polls marred by a boycott call. Only 25 per cent exercised their right.
In Assam’s Kokrajhar, a mob tried to snatch electronic voting machines from a polling booth. It attacked the security personnel when they fired in the air to disperse the mob. One policeman was killed and two others were injured in the incident.
With the Thursday’s voting, the polling process for Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan comes to an end. The next poll days are: April 30 (89 seats), May 7 (64 seats) and May 12 (41 seats). Of the 89 seats on April 30, all of Punjab’s 13 and Gujarat’s 26 seats will go to polls. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are the other prominent states where substantial number of seats will go to polls in the next three phases.
Mumbai, which historically has a poor record of voter turnout, recorded 53 per cent for its six Lok Sabha seats. It was over 10 per cent higher than the 41 per cent recorded in 2009.
West Bengal registered a whopping 82 per cent for six Lok Sabha seats, Uttar Pradesh had 58.58 per cent for 12 seats, Madhya Pradesh 64.4 per cent for 10 seats, Tamil Nadu 73 per cent for 39 seats and Rajasthan 59.2 per cent for five seats.
The turnout in Chhattisgarh was 62.5 per cent for seven seats, Bihar 62.5 per cent for seven seats each, Jharkhand 63.4 per cent for four seats and Assam 77 per cent for six seats. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his 41st birthday by exercising his voting right but several notable people couldn’t find their names on voters’ lists. These included HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, former Union minister and veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani and Marathi actor Atul Kulkarni.
“I have been now told that I have to refill the form for the next elections. It is surprising that my servant has received his election voting card but my entire family’s name was missing. I was the first to reach the booth to vote and found that our names are missing,” Parekh said.
State Bank of India Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, Tata Consultancy Services chief N Chandrasekaran, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive of HDFC Keki Mistry and Chairman of infrastructure major HCC Ajit Gulabchand were some from the corporate and banking world who exercised their right.
Currently, the NCP-Congress combine hold all the six seats of Mumbai. Overall, Maharashtra’s 19 seats, including six of Mumbai, recorded 55.53 per cent, which was nine per cent more than that of 2009.
In Tamil Nadu, the voting percentage improved fractionally to 73 per cent from 72.98 in 2009, as the state voted for all its 39 seats. The state had recorded its highest ever voter turnout of 76.6 per cent in 1967. Actors Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, accompanied with her friend Sasikala, and DMK chief M Karunanidhi were some of the prominent Chennai residents who voted in the morning.
The Election Commission asked police to lodge a case against 10 companies, including IT majors Wipro, HCL, TCS, Voltas and Travel Trend for allegedly “restraining” their employees from voting. However, Wipro and TCS claimed their offices were shut, while HCL and others did not respond to Business Standard’s queries.
The neighbouring Union Territory of Puducherry also witnessed a record turnout of 83 per cent — up from 79.85 per cent in the 2009 elections.
Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir, where People’s Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti is a candidate, had polls marred by a boycott call. Only 25 per cent exercised their right.
In Assam’s Kokrajhar, a mob tried to snatch electronic voting machines from a polling booth. It attacked the security personnel when they fired in the air to disperse the mob. One policeman was killed and two others were injured in the incident.
With the Thursday’s voting, the polling process for Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan comes to an end. The next poll days are: April 30 (89 seats), May 7 (64 seats) and May 12 (41 seats). Of the 89 seats on April 30, all of Punjab’s 13 and Gujarat’s 26 seats will go to polls. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are the other prominent states where substantial number of seats will go to polls in the next three phases.