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Journalism of Courage
Breaking the trend of the first three phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, voter turnout in the fourth phase, in which 96 constituencies across 10 states and Union Territories went to polls Monday, was estimated to be higher than the turnout in 2019, at 68.93% as per the Election Commission’s Voter Turnout app at 11.35 pm Tuesday.
The EC had said that the provisional turnout at 11.45 pm Monday was 67.25%. However, the final turnout would be announced by Friday. As on 11.35 pm Tuesday, the EC’s Voter Turnout app, which shows real-time approximate trends of turnout, showed the overall phase four turnout at 68.93%, while the turnout in the same seats was 68.8% in 2019.
Turnout increased in J&K, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana seats in phase four compared to 2019.
Significantly, the turnout in Srinagar, which was the one seat in Jammu and Kashmir that went to polls on Monday, was 38.49%, which was the highest since 1996.
In its statement at the close of polling Monday, the EC said polling had gone off peacefully. “Polling was closed at 6 pm, but a large number of voters were still in the queue at polling stations,” the EC said. Those who entered the polling stations by 6 pm were allowed to cast their votes even beyond that time.
Turnout in West Bengal was the highest in phase four, at 80.22%, closely followed by Andhra Pradesh (79.66%). While Jammu and Kashmir had the lowest turnout in phase four, it was an over 24 percentage points increase from the turnout in Srinagar in 2019 (14.39%). Turnout in Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh seats were 58.21%, 66.01%, 72.05%, 62.21%,75.58%, 65.67% and 58.22%, respectively.
Turnout in the first three phases of the LS polls has seen a dip compared to the 2019 turnout in the same seats. However, the gap has been reducing over the phases – from 3.75 percentage points in the first to 2.93 in the second to 1.32 in the third.
With the completion of the fourth phase, 70% of the 543 Lok Sabha seats have had polling, covering 23 states and Union Territories.
