New Delhi: Up to 5 p.m. on Monday, over 62% of voters in 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories participated in the fourth round of the Lok Sabha elections. At 75.66% of eligible voters, West Bengal had the highest turnout; Madhya Pradesh came in second at 68.01%. Still, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir had lower voter turnouts—35.75% and 52.49%, respectively.
Other states showed voting of 68.04% in Andhra Pradesh, 54.14% in Bihar, 63.14% in Jharkhand, 62.96% in Odisha, 61.16% in Telangana and 56.35% in Uttar Pradesh. While most of the voting went without a hitch, there were some violent occurrences in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Further reports surfaced of EVMs breaking down at a few booths in Odisha and West Bengal.
Particularly in the Palnadu, Kadapa, and Annamayya districts of Andhra Pradesh, the TDP and YSRCP traded accusations of violence. YSRCP charged that TDP had taken over polling booths and broken the election code in a number of constituencies. On the other hand, TDP claimed that YSRCP employees assaulted their agents and smashed their candidate's cars. A dispute arose in Tenali over a YSRCP MLA allegedly slapping a voter for skipping the line.
While that was going on, Srinagar cast its ballots in the face of growing worries about poor voter turnout and the bitter tone of the campaign. The Srinagar Lok Sabha seat and the two other parliamentary constituencies from the predominantly Muslim Kashmir region are not being contested by the ruling BJP. Voting was not possible for a number of displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu since their names were not on the electoral rolls.
Voter turnout in the first three phases of the Lok Sabha elections was 66.14%, 66.71%, and 65.68%, in that order.
