Polling for the highly anticipated Lok Sabha Elections 2024 commenced on Friday, marking the beginning of the world’s largest electoral exercise. Nearly 60% voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm across the states.
The voter turnout till 6 pm was 59.71 per cent with the highest percentage in West Bengal at 77.57 per cent, as against 69.43 percent in 2019. The turnout of voters has been brisk so far, even as violence has been reported in Bengal and Manipur. However, the voter turnout was among the highest in Manipur (63.03%) and Bengal (66.34%) till 3 pm.
With 102 seats up for grabs across 21 states and union territories in the inaugural phase, citizens are exercising their democratic right to choose their representatives.
The highest voter turnout on the first day of polling under Phase 1 of the Lok Sabha elections was recorded in West Bengal at 77.57 percent, with Bihar witnessing the lowest turnout at 46.32 percent till 5 pm. The estimated average voter turnout stood at 59.7% .
Although the first phase of polling for the Lok Sabha election has been largely incident-free till noon, workers of the Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party clashed in West Bengal, and a CRPF officer suffered injury in an IED blast in Bastar, Chattisgarh.
A Central Reserve Police Force officer suffered injuries in an IED blast by Naxalites in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district during polling in Bastar constituency, PTI reported. Also, a CRPF jawan deployed on poll duty in a polling booth near Galgam village in Bastar constituency suffered injuries when a shell of Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) accidentally exploded.
Sporadic incidents of violence marred the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in the three parliamentary constituencies in Bengal- Cooch Behar, Alipurduars and Jalpaiguri. Poll violence and allegations of electronic voting machines being damaged married the polling process in Manipur, a state that has been embroiled in ethnic violence since May last year.
