Fifth phase: Voting Underway In 49 LS Seats, 23.66 Per Cent Turnout In First Four Hours

An approximate voter turnout of 23.66 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of polling on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union Territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections amid reports of EVM glitches in some places and poll boycott in a village of Uttar Pradesh.

While Maharashtra recorded the lowest voter turnout till 11 am with 15.93 per cent voters exercising their franchise, West Bengal recorded the highest voting percentage with 32.70 per cent.

Among other states Bihar recorded 21.11 cent turnout, Jammu and Kashmir 21.37 per cent, Jharkhand 26.18 per cent, Ladakh 27.87 per cent, Odisha 21.097 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 27.76 per cent.

In Uttar Pradesh, Amethi recorded a voter turnout of 27.20 per cent till 11 am, and Rae Bareli 28.10 per cent.

Samajwadi Party candidate from Gonda parliamentary constituency, Shreya Verma, has complained to the Election Commission that fair polling is not taking place at two booths in Mankapur area in Gonda.

The Uttar Pradesh unit of Congress said on X that "Booth number 5 Rasulpur in Sareni in Rae Bareli is closed since 8.00 am. Voters are going back, this is how it will be 400-paar (cross 400 seats)."

Apart from this, the Congress in its various posts on X complained of EVM malfunctioning and accused the BJP of not allowing people to cast votes in three booths in Bela Khara village in Rae Bareli district.

According to reports from Kaushambi, voters of Hisampur Madho village boycotted voting.

Angry villagers say they will consider voting only after getting an assurance from the administration that a road and railway bridge will be built in their area.

Voting was progressing peacefully in West Bengal where the Election Commission removed a BSF jawan from poll duty in Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency following a complaint of molestation against him, an official said.

A woman lodged the molestation complaint at Uluberia Police Station on Sunday evening, he said.

“We have removed him from election duty. We are waiting for the police report. If found guilty, necessary action will be taken as per law,” the poll panel official told PTI.

The Chief Electoral Office (CEO), West Bengal, said it has so far received 1,053 poll-related complaints.

In Odisha, officials said EVM glitches were reported from Sundergarh Lok Sabha constituency and were addressed immediately.

The defects in EVMs were identified during the mock poll ahead of voting and replaced within 30 minutes.

Officials said that a woman polling official fainted in a booth under the Sundergarh Lok Sabha seat.

In Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray claimed there were lot of complaints from electors about facilities outside polling booths.

"A lot of complaints from voters about the facilities outside the booths @ECISVEEP At least having the voter lines in shade/ fans could help. They don't want much, just basics to stay cool. Please look into it," Thackeray said in a post on X.

Today's poll will decide the fate of several prominent leaders like former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani and former J-K chief minister Omar Abdullah.

Over 8.95 crore people, including 4.26 crore females and 5,409 third-gender electors, are eligible to vote in this round and 9.47 lakh polling officials have been deployed across 94,732 polling stations.

Among the seats going to polls, 13 are in Maharashtra, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, seven in West Bengal, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand, five in Odisha, one in J-K and the lone seat in Ladakh. This round covers the least number of seats (49) in the seven-phase polls.

Voting is also being held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha, where BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is among the candidates.

Polling for 23 states and Union territories and 379 seats has been completed so far.

The sixth and seventh phases are on May 25 and June 1 respectively. The counting of votes is on June 4.