New Delhi: Amid reports of EVM glitches, an average of 10-14 per cent polling was recorded in the first two hours of voting Sunday in 59 seats in the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha elections to decide the fate of 918 candidates including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Voting is underway in all 13 seats of Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
In Uttar Pradesh, nearly 10 per cent voting was recorded in the first two hours of polling in 13 Lok Sabha seats.
Madhya Pradesh recorded around 13.19 per cent voter turnout in the first three hours of polling in eight Lok Sabha seats. Polling for eight seats – Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone and Khandwa was going on peacefully since 7.00 am, MP’s Chief Electoral Officer VL Kantha Rao said.
Long queues were seen at several booths. Some state leaders from Malwa Nimar region of Indore constituency were also seen standing in queues to cast their votes.
In West Bengal, 13.41 per cent polling was recorded till 9.00 am in nine LS seats. “Polling till 9.00 am in nine Lok Sabha constituencies was absolutely peaceful. We have received no complaints of any violence or any problem from anywhere in any of the polling booths,” a senior IPS officer said. There were, however, reports of malfunctioning of EVMs from some polling stations.
In Bihar, an estimated 8.08 per cent of the 1,52,52,608 voters exercised their franchise in the eight Lok Sabha seats in Bihar till in the first two hours of voting. Altogether 157 candidates including four Union Ministers are in the fray in the seventh and final phase of polling in Bihar.
Polling is currently underway in eight Lok Sabha constituencies -Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Ara, Buxar, Jehanabad, Sasaram and Karakat .
“Polling has been peaceful with no untoward incidents reported from any of these constituencies, so far except initial reports of EVM malfunctioning,” official sources said.
Prominent among those who cast their vote were Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, his Deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, and Union Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
In neighbouring Jharkhand, an estimated 10.48 per cent of the total 45,64,681 voters exercised their franchise in the first two hours. A large number of women and first time voters were seen in queues before booths as polling began at 7.00am.
Polling was also underway in all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of Punjab and the lone Chandigarh constituency, with SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Puri among those in the fray.
Among early voters were cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Congress candidate from Anandpur Sahib Manish Tewari, sitting MP from Patiala Dharamvira Gandhi, BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Congress candidate from Amritsar Gurjeet Singh Aujla.
There were reports of technical glitches in EVMs at several places including Ludhiana, Samana and Moga.
Himachal Pradesh witnessed about 14 per cent turnout n the first two hours of polling. EVM snags delayed voting at nine polling stations. Voting restarted after the nine faulty EVMs were replaced, a state election officer said.
PTI