At 67.11%, 2019 voter turnout highest ever for Lok Sabha polls; EC yet to announce fresh date for Vellore election

New Delhi: An estimated 67.11 percent of the nearly 91 crore electors turned up to cast their vote in this year’s seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, the highest ever turnout recorded in any parliamentary polls in India. The overall turnout in 2014 was 66.40 percent. But, the Election Commission figures are provisional and are subject to change. The overall turnout was recorded at 67.11 percent, as per data available on Monday morning. Out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, elections were held in 542 constituencies as the EC had cancelled polls to the Vellore constituency on the grounds of excessive use of money power. The poll panel is yet to announce a fresh date for elections in Vellore. [caption id=“attachment_6663411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image PTI[/caption] While there were 83.40 crore voters in the 2014 polls, their number stood at 90.99 crore as on 23 April, the day the third phase of polling was held for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. In the 2009 elections, the turnout was pegged at 56.9 percent. In 2019, the voter turnout saw a decreasing trend from the first to the seventh phase, which took place on Sunday. According to data provided by the EC, in phase one, the turnout was 69.61 percent. It went down marginally to 69.44 percent in phase two and further down to 68.40 percent in the third phase. In the fourth phase, the turnout saw a dip of nearly three percent and stood at 65.50 percent. In the fifth phase, the turnout was 64.16 percent, but went up marginally to 64.40 per cent in the sixth and penultimate phase. In the seventh and the last phase, it was 65.15 percent, according to the EC’s Voter Turnout app on Monday evening. The cumulative turnout figure of the first six phases stood at 67.34 percent, which is 1.21 percent more than the corresponding constituencies in 2014. Madhya Pradesh’s turnout was 5.92 percent more than that in 2014 and Himachal Pradesh’s 5.1 percent higher than that in the last Lok Sabha polls. Chandigarh, on the other hand, recorded a massive dip in turnout as compared to the last election. The turnout went down by 10.27 percent. Punjab also witnessed a lower turnout as compared to 2014. The gap was a glaring 5.64 percent. In most of the states the turnout was marginally higher by 2.5 percent than 2014. Out of 18 lakh registered voters, 16.49 lakh have sent their postal ballots to their respective returning officers as on 17 May. The postal ballots were electronically transmitted to the service voters. They have to download it, fill it and send it by speed post. Interestingly, the gap between male and female voters turning out to cast their vote is narrowing since 2009. In 2009, the gap was nine per cent, which went down to 1.4 per cent in 2014. It now tentatively stands at 0.4 percent now.