New Delhi: Indian voters came out in record numbers in the 35-day long drawn 2014 Lok Sabha elections with 66.38 per cent of them exercising their franchise across the 543 seats. Brisk polling was witnessed even in the 41 seats in the ninth and final phase on May 12 in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
ECI Director General Akshay Rout said that the country registered a record turnout of voters, surpassing the previous record of 64.01 per cent in 1984. The 2009 elections had recorded just 57.94 per cent turnout.
A total of 8,202 candidates were in the fray and their fate will be declared on May 16. The polling began on April 7.
In the ninth phase of polling, voting was held in 41 constituencies to decide the fate of 606 candidates, including BJP's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal (both Varanasi) and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav (Azamgarh) in the final phase of polling.
Of the 41 seats, heartland Uttar Pradesh witnessed polling in 18 seats. There has been an increase in the polling percentage in the state with 55.29 per cent polling recorded in 18 constituencies. In 2009, the voter turnout was 46.55 per cent.
The temple town, one of the the most high-profile constituencies where Narendra Modi is pitted against AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal and Congress' Ajai Rai, was pegged at 55.34 per cent.
The highest turnout was witnessed in Maharajganj where 54.40 per cent voters cast their ballot while in high profile constituencies of Varanasi and Azamgarh the percentage of votes was 55.34 and 52.3 respectively.
In Kushinagar the polling percentage was 52.80 per cent, Gorakhpur 51.12, Domariyaganj 50.60, Maharajganj 54.40, Deoria 50.40, Bansgaon 48, Lalganj 52.50, Ghosi 50.86, Salempur 48.54, Ballia 50.74, Jaunpur 50.40, Machhlishahr 48.80, Ghazipur 50, Chandauli 55.2, Mirzapur 51.52 and Robertsganj 52.40.
Of these, ruling Samajwadi Party has six seats, followed by BSP 5, BJP 4 and Congress 3.
The outcome of today's polling in eastern part of UP was crucial for BJP's hopes of a final push towards its march towards regaining power at the Centre and much would depend on its ability to break the entrenched caste loyalties to SP and BSP which are trying to check the saffron surge.
West Bengal witnessed a high turnout where the polling was held in 17 seats. Like the previous phases, the state recorded 79.3 per cent polling. Of these, the ruling Trinamool Congress has 14 seats, while Congress, CPI and Independent have one each.
Polling in the state went off more or less peacefully barring the injury to 13 persons in a clash between CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress supporters at Haroa in North 24 Parganas district hosting Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency.
Prominent candidates in the state were TMC's Sudip Bandyopadhyay in Kolkata North, Dinesh Trivedi in Barrackpore and Sougata Roy in Dum Dum, besides film stars like Dipak Adhikari (Dev) in Ghatal and Tapas Paul in Krishnagar, Trinamool Yuva President Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of Mamata Banerjee, in Diamond Harbour, magician P C Sorcar (Junior) of BJP in Barasat, WBPCC President Adhir Chowdhury in Berhampore and CPI(M)'s Subhasini Ali from Barrackpore.
Also contesting was former finance minister Asim Dasgupta of the CPI-M and former union minister Tapan Sikdar of BJP in Dum Dum.
In neighbouring Bihar, polling was held in six seats and registered 58 per cent turnout. The turnout today was over 12 per cent higher in these seats than that in the last general elections in 2009. Film-maker Prakash Jha and former union minister Raghubansh Prasad Singh were among the 90 candidates.
Of them, BJP and JD(U) have two each, while RJD and Independent have one each.
(With additional information from PTI)
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