Heat dominated III phase poll, avg 50% turnout

Third phase of Lok Sabha elections concluded peacefully on Thursday with moderate polling recorded 45 to 50 percent in nine States and two Union Territories as scorching heat forced many people to stay indoors.

The low turnout in the morning got momentum at several constituencies as the day progressed while electorates in some of the States preferred to stay at homes rather going for the poll.

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West Bengal recorded the highest turnout around 65 percent where voters beat the scorching heat and the Maoist threat. Sikkim too did not lagged behind with over 64 percent voter turnout. Anantnag constituency in Jammu & Kashmir where separatists called for poll boycott, however, remained behind from all the constituencies as it witnessed just 25 percent turnout — the lowest in the current elections so far.

The country’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh where 15 constituencies went to poll in the third phase recorded mere 45 percent voting. Lucknow and Kanpur saw only 35 and 39 percent polling respectively, while Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s bastion Rae Bareilly comparatively did well as 46 percent voters exercised their franchise there.

"The polls were quite peaceful in Uttar Pradesh which witnessed 45 per cent of voting, while some incidents were reported in Madhya Pradesh (44 to 45 per cent polling)," Deputy Election Commissioner R. Balakrishan said during a press conference.

In Bihar, where elections conducted for 11 Lok Sabha seats, 48 percent people cast their votes. One more phase is left in Bihar where elections will be held on May 07.

The voting percentage in some other states remained as: Madhya Pradesh (44 to 45 %), Maharashtra (43 to 45 %), Karnataka (57%), and Gujarat (49 to 50 %).

Heat is, however, remained the decisive factor that forced people to stay away from polling centres. With temperature going up the polling percentage witnessing low. The first phase of polling saw a 58 percent turnout, the second phase 55 per cent, and today it was around 50 per cent.

Polls were held in nine States, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Sikkim, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and the two Union Territories Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli.

The prominent leaders whose fate sealed in the EVMs were Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani, BJP leader Jaswant Singh, JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav, former prime minister and JD (S) founder H D Deve Gowda, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, among others.

With the end of the third phase fate of the candidates for the 372 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats have been sealed in the electronic voting machines (EVM). Two more phase are to be held on May 7 and 13 and final outcome will come on May 16 after the counting of votes the same day.