Average turnout 57% in fourth phase of election
Average turnout 57% in fourth phase of election
New Delhi: In the fourth and penultimate phase of the 2009 Lok Sabha election, considered crucial for the ruling Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance coalition, an estimated 57% of electors turned up to vote in 85 constituencies across seven states and the national capital territory of Delhi. The voter turnout in Delhi was above 50%, deputy election commissioner R. Balakrishnan said.
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Rajasthan Haryana and Punjab saw 50%, 63% and 65% of the voters turning up to cast their ballot, respectively. In West Bengal, where the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left parties have dominated the political landscape for at least three decades, a healthy 75% of the electorate voted. However, violence marred voting in the state where the Trinamool Congress-Congress combination hopes to win crucial seats. Balakrishnan said four people were killed in poll-related violence in West Bengal.
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The politically volatile state of Uttar Pradesh, where 18 of the 80 seats went to polls on Thursday, registered a turnout of 50%.
While the voter turnout in Bihar was 37%, Jammu and Kashmir, where election was held in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, 24% of the voters cast their vote.
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Meanwhile, Balakrishnan clarified that chief election commissioner Navin Chawla’s name had appeared twice in the electoral rolls. This anomaly was later rectified, he said.
Eighty-six constituencies will go to polls in the fifth and the final phase of polls on 13 May. The counting for all five phases of the election will take place on 16 May.
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