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Journalism of Courage
The final voting figures for the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections are in. Amid criticism from Opposition parties over the delay in releasing turnout data, the Election Commission Tuesday announced 66.14% polling for the first phase and 66.71% for the second phase — a drop of just under 4 percentage points for the first phase and under 3 percentage points for the second phase compared to the 2019 elections.
The 102 seats of the first phase registered roughly 70% turnout in 2019 and 83 of 88 seats that voted in phase two — five seats in Assam went through delimitation and have, therefore, not been factored in the comparison — saw 69.64% voting in the last Parliamentary polls.
The EC announcement came 11 days after the first phase polling on April 19, and four days after the second phase on April 26. The final turnout is a marginal upward revision of less than one percentage point from the provisional figures shared by the EC.
On April 20, a day after the first phase of voting in 102 seats, the Commission had pegged voting at 65.5% and on April 27, sources in EC had indicated a turnout of 66.7% for the second phase comprising 88 seats.
Amongst electors who cast their vote, men registered a marginally better performance. In the first phase, male voter turnout was 66.22% and female 66.07%. In the second phase, 66.99% of the registered male voters came out to vote and 66.42% of the women did the same.
Of the 190 constituencies, which have finished polling in the first two phases, at least 153 registered a drop in voting percentage, of up to 25 percentage points, compared to the 2019 general elections.
Of the 153, Nagaland parliamentary constituency saw a maximum drop of 25.28 percentage points – from 83% in 2019 to 57.72% in 2024. It was followed by Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi that saw a drop of 13 percentage points in turnout over the 2019 figure. Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura constituency also saw a sharp drop of 11.67 percentage points over the last general elections.
There were seven constituencies which witnessed over 10 percentage points drop in turnout as compared to their polling percentage in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Besides, 53 seats saw 5-10 percentage points drop, and 93 seats recorded below 5 percentage points drop in turnout as compared to their 2019 turnout.
The EC has been criticised by the Opposition parties for the delay in releasing voter turnout.
And soon after the EC announcement, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, in a post on X, said, “Finally ECI has put out the final voter turnout figures for the first 2 phases which are substantially, not marginally as is normal, higher than the initial figures.”
“But why are the absolute numbers of voters in each Parliamentary constituency not put out? Percentages are meaningless unless this figure is known. Apprehensions of manipulation of results continue as total voter numbers can be altered at the time of counting. Total number of voters in each constituency was always available on ECI website till 2014! ECI must be transparent & put out this data,” Yechury said.
Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary (in-charge communications) Jairam Ramesh said, “For the first time, even 11 days after the first phase of the polls and four days after the second phase, the final voter turnout has not been published by the ECI. In the past, ECI used to publish the final voter turnout immediately after voting or within 24 hours. Only approximate polling figures are available on ECI’s website. What accounts for this delay?”
“Additionally, the number of registered voters in each Lok Sabha constituency and the assembly constituencies included in that Lok Sabha constituency is also not available on the Commission’s website. It only shows the total number of voters in a state and the number of voters in each booth. It is essential for the Election Commission of India to be as timely and transparent about all election-related data,” Ramesh posted on X.
TMC leader and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien, in a post on X, said, “Modi got the law changed in Parliament to get his own umpire and destroy the Election Commission. Now, after two phases, the EC yet to disclose final polling data. Why the delay? The first two phases didn’t go well, did they! And EC, why no press conference after every phase?”
