Lok Sabha Election: 60.21% turnout recorded till 6 pm, says EC; violence reported in Bengal's Bhatpara Assembly constituency

The Election Commission announced at a press conference on Sunday evening that polling has concluded in 542 constituencies across all states and union territories. At 6 pm, voting in the the last phase of the election officially ended. In the seventh phase, 7.27 crore voters took part in the polling process, of which 3.47 crore were women and 3,377 were persons of third gender, the poll panel announced. [caption id=“attachment_5498521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] A total turnout of 60.21 percent has been recorded till 6 pm. Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chandigarh recorded turnouts of 49.92 percent, 66.18 percent, 69.38 percent, 58.81 percent, 54.37 percent, 73.05 percent, 70.5 percent, 63.57 percent. A total of 21.17 male voters turned up at polling booths, while the figure for female voters was 26.27 percent. The Election Commission said that some incidents of violence took place during the polling process, including the hurling of a crude bomb near TMC leader Madan Mitra’s car in Bhatpara Assembly constituency. Mitra was taken to safety immediately, and 18 people have been detained in connection with the violence. The poll panel announced that the rate for replacement of voting units was 0.30 in the final phase, while the corresponding figure for the replacement of VVPATs was 1.32 percent. The elections to the 16th Lok Sabha were held in seven phases across India, beginning from 11 April. The subsequent phases of the election were held on 18 April, 23 April 29 April, 6 May, 12 May and 19 May. Simultaneous elections were also held to the Assemblies of Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha. The results for these elections will also come out on 23 May.