64% voter turnout in Phase 4 of Lok Sabha elections 2019 A voter turnout of 64 percent was recorded in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls on Monday, the Election Commission said. Voting was held in 72 parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states in this phase. Nearly 66 per cent turnout was recorded in the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in which voting was held in 116 seats. In the first two phases, polling was conducted in 91 and 95 seats on April 11 and April 18 respectively. Election to 543 seats across the country is being held in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. The poll percentage in Bihar was 58.92%, 9.79% in Jammu and Kashmir, 63.77% in Jharkhand, 66.52% in Madhya Pradesh, 55.88% in Maharashtra, 64.05% in Odisha, 66.44% in Rajasthan, 55.57% in Uttar Pradesh, and 76.59% in West Bengal. 1.91 first time voters: EC The total number of first-time voters in the seven phases of 2019 Lok Sabha elections is 1.91 crore., which is 20% more than that it in 2014, said EC while addressing a press conference after the fourth phase of polling. Mumbai’s first-time voters seek to make ‘indelible’ mark A large number of first-time voters came out to cast their ballots Monday in Mumbai, marking their formal participation in choosing the next government in the world’s largest democracy. According to the Election Commission (EC) data, Maharashtra has over 1.19 crore voters who fall in the age group of 18-19 years and are eligible to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls for the first time. Enthusiasm was palpable among first-time electors, who openly expressed their views about candidates in the fray and whom they voted for. At 6 pm, 60% voter turnout in Phase 4 Till 6 pm, the voter turnout in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019 was 59.62%. The poll percentage in Bihar was 53.67%, 9.79% in Jammu and Kashmir, 63.77% in Jharkhand, 65.86% in Madhya Pradesh, 52.03% in Maharashtra, 64.05% in Odisha, 63.58% in Rajasthan, 53.34% in Uttar Pradesh, and 76.59% in West Bengal. Congress approaches EC over EVM snags, NCP says something fishy The Congress Monday made 30 complaints to the Election Commission about alleged glitches in EVMs across the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra where polling is underway. A majority of the complaints came in from Dhule and Nandurbar, the party said, prompting ally NCP’s state chief Jayant Patil to claim that something was “fishy” in the two seats. “Complaints have been made to Election Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer and other authorities concerned via e-mail,” the Congress said in a statement. Patil too said that complaints were coming in from several seats where election is being held, and questioned if the Electronic Voting Machine glitches were being caused deliberately. 59% voter turnout till 5 pm Till 5 pm, the voter turnout in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019 was 59.01%. The poll percentage in Bihar was 53.67%, 9.98% in Jammu and Kashmir, 63.40% in Jharkhand, 65.77% in Madhya Pradesh, 50.70% in Maharashtra, 64.05% in Odisha, 62.73% in Rajasthan, 52.90% in Uttar Pradesh, and 76.47% in West Bengal. Dog, best companion-turned into-campaigner, detained A dog with pro-BJP stickers on its body was detained alongwith his master in north Maharashtra’s Nandurbar town where polling for the Lok Sabha elections took place Monday. Eknath Motiram Chaudhary (65), resident of Navnathnagar area, was spotted with his dog near Andhare hospital Monday afternoon. The dog’s body was found covered with stickers bearing the BJP’s symbol and the message “Modi Lao, Desh Bachao” (Vote for Modi and save the country), a local police official said. As the polling was underway, police had received a complaint about the dog and his master who were roaming around the town, he said. In Kannauj, SP alleges VVPAT shows ‘lotus’ when ‘cycle’ button pressed Opposition Samajwadi Party Monday urged the Election Commission to remove Uttar Pardesh’s police chief OP Singh from the post, alleging he was “favouring” the ruling BJP and trying to influence elections, reported news agency PTI. The party also alleged that in at least two polling booths in Kannauj the Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine showed the voting for the BJP when the ballot was cast for the SP. It also claimed the police issued warning notes to “a large number” of SP supporters in the constituency, from where Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple is contesting, asking them to remain inside their houses after casting their own votes. Party leader Dharmendra Yadav said Director General of Police OP Singh was “misusing” government machinery to help the BJP. “We demanded from the EC to remove him immediately,” he told reporters in Lucknow. 62% voter turnout in Rajasthan till 5 pm The voter turnout in Rajasthan stood at 61.96% till 5pm in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019. 121 polling booths in Jharkhand managed by women Women power was on full display in Jharkhand during the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls with 121 polling booths being managed by women on Monday. Of the 6,072 polling booths in the fourth phase, 121 were exclusively managed by women. “There were 46 all-women polling booths in Palamau, 33 in Chatra and 42 in Lohardaga. At these booths, all polling staff, security personnel and other officials were women,” an official said. Jharkhand is voting for three Maoist-affected parliamentary seats, spread over six districts. More than 40 per cent of the booths are located in sensitive areas. BJP urges EC to deploy central forces in all polling booths of West Bengal The BJP approached the Election Commission on Monday complaining that TMC workers have “hijacked democracy” in West Bengal and creating ruckus during voting, and again demanded deployment of central forces in all polling booths in the state. Following reports of a clash between the ruling Trinamool Congress and BJP workers outside a booth in Asansol’s Barabani, and vandalism of the vehicle of Union Minister and sitting MP Babul Supriyo, a BJP delegation met top officials of the poll panel in New Delhi. The delegation included Union Ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Vijay Goel, and the party’s media in-charge Anil Baluni. After meeting the poll panel officials, Naqvi told reporters, “The ruling Trinamool Congress workers have hijacked democracy in the state and are indulging in violence. They are being supported by the local machinery and we demand deployment of central forces in all polling booths in the state.” Naqvi also expressed concern over “no action” been taken against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his “baseless allegations” against BJP chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said a memorandum in this regard has been submitted to the Election Commission. In Maharashtra, booths decked up for better polling experience Balloons and colourful rangolis welcomed voters at some of the polling booths across the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra where polling is underway in the fourth and final phase Monday. As part of an initiative by the Election Commission of India to make polling a pleasant experience, certain booths were selected in every Lok Sabha constituency for decoration with local help. “The whole idea is to make voting a pleasant experience. We cannot put pandals due to several restrictions, but using colours and rangolis would bring some relief to voters, who wait for hours in scorching heat to exercise their right,” an ECI official said. Voting is underway at Nandurbar, Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Thane, Mumbai-North, Mumbai-North West, Mumbai-North East, Mumbai-North Central, Mumbai-South Central, Mumbai- South, Maval, Shirur and Shirdi. 49% voter turnout till 4 pm Till 4pm, the voter turnout in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019 was 49.62%. The poll percentage in Bihar was 44.23%, 8.42% in Jammu and Kashmir, 56.37% in Jharkhand, 55.33% in Madhya Pradesh, 41.15% in Maharashtra, 51.54% in Odisha, 54.21% in Rajasthan, 44.16% in Uttar Pradesh, and 66.01% in West Bengal. Over 43% voter turnout in Uttar Pradesh till 3 pm An estimated 43.91 voter turnout was recorded till 3 pm in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh Monday as polling for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in the state was underway. Seats where the polling is underway in the state are Shahjahanpur (SC), Kheri, Hardoi (SC), Misrikh (SC), Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah (SC), Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur, Jalaun (SC), Jhansi and Hamirpur. Over 43% voting in Madhya Pradesh till 2 pm Around 43.82 per cent turnout was recorded in the fourth phase of polling for the six Lok Sabha seats and one Assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh till 1 p.m. on Monday, the Voter Turnout App data of Election Commission showed. Maoist-affected Balaghat district, which is voting under high security, recorded the highest 46.32 per cent voter turnout. It was followed by 46.05 per cent polling in Mandla, 45.89 per cent polling in Chhindwara, 45.88 per cent polling in Shahdol, 44.39 per cent polling in Jabalpur and 34.95 per cent polling in Sidhi. There were also reports of malfunctioning EVMs from some places and both the EVMs as well as the VVPATs were replaced. Some 1.05 crore electorate are eligible to vote in this phase. A total of 108 candidates are trying their luck in this phase in the state, including a maximum of 26 from Sidhi, followed by 23 from Balaghat, 22 from Jabalpur, 14 from Chhindwara, 13 from Shahdol and 10 from Mandla. Rajasthan records 52.97 per cent voter turnout till 3 pm Rajasthan Monday recorded about 53 percent voter turn out till 3 pm from among its 2.57 crore electorates in the ongoing polling for 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state, said officials. Barmer, the state’s largest parliamentary constituency area-wise, witnessed the highest turnout at 60.36 percent till 3 pm. The second highest voter turnout after Barmer was reported from tribal population-dominated seat Banswara, where 57.63 per cent electors cast their votes till 3 pm. In Barmer, where former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra Singh, a former BJP MLA, is contesting election as a Congress candidate against BJP’s Kailash Chaudhary, voters lined up before polling booths, braving scorching sun with the temperature hovering at around 42 degree Celsius. The constituency covers entire Barmer and half of Jaisalmer district and is located on Indo-Pak border in western Rajasthan. Villagers flocked to polling booths in groups and looked for shed near polling booths. 9% cast ballot in Kulgam dist till 3pm With just an hour left for polls to close, less than nine percent of 3.45 lakh electorate Monday exercised their franchise in the Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir -- part of Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency -- amidst stringent security arrangements and isolated incidents of stone-pelting near polling stations, officials said. The voting in the second leg of three-phased schedule for the Lok Sabha seat would decide the fate of 18 candidates, including former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. The overall poll percentage in the Kulgam district till 3.00 pm was 8.42 per cent, the officials said in Srinagar, reported news agency PTI. SP alleges VVPAT shows ‘lotus’ when ‘cycle’ button pressed Opposition Samajwadi Party Monday urged the Election Commission to remove Uttar Pardesh’s police chief OP Singh from the post alleging he was “favouring” the ruling BJP and affecting elections. The party also alleged that in at at least two polling booths the Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machine showed the voting for the BJP when the ballot was cast for the SP. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimpal is contesting from the constituency. Party leader Dharmendra Yadav said the Director General of Police was “misusing” government machinery to help the BJP. “We demanded from the EC to remove him immediately,” Yadav told reporters Over 40% polling in Bihar till 2 pm Ignoring heatwave like conditions, 40.08 per cent voting was recorded in Bihar’s five Lok Sabha seats till 2 p.m. on Monday, an official said. Voting started at 7 am in Begusarai, Ujiarpur, Darbhanga, Munger and Samastipur constituencies. “Long queues were seen at polling booths in rural as well as urban pockets of these constituencies despite heatwave-like conditions,” the official said. 7.5 % voting in Anantnag Lok Sabha seat till 2 pm<doc-sep>NEW DELHI: Incidents of violence in West Bengal and Odisha that left a Congress worker dead and EVM glitches were reported in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls on Monday which saw 64 per cent turnout in 72 seats across nine states.In the heartland states, where the BJP had won 30 out of 32 seats in 2014, 67.73 per cent turnout was recorded in Rajasthan (13 seats), 58.56 per cent in Uttar Pradesh (13 seats) and 67.09 per cent in Madhya Pradesh (6 seats), according to the Election Commission.West Bengal recorded a high turnout at 76.66 in the eight seats though clashes broke out between supporters of TMC and BJP in Nanoor, Rampurhat, Nalhati and Suri areas of Birbhum seat, leaving several people injured.In Barabani, BJP candidate from Asansol and Union minister Babul Supriyo's vehicle was vandalised allegedly by TMC workers outside a polling station while in Dubrajpur area central security forces personnel reportedly opened fire in the air to disperse irate people who attacked them when they were barred from entering the booths with mobile phones.An FIR was registered against Supriyo for allegedly getting into an argument with polling officials, an election official said. The ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP accused each other of intimidating voters in the state, which has seen violence in all previous three phases despite stepped up central forces deployment.The stakes are high for the BJP which had won 56 of these 72 constituencies in the 2014 polls. About 12.79 crore people were eligible for voting in the fourth phase. With this round, polling has been completed in 374 seats out of 543.According to a senior police officer, violence was reported from several places in six parliamentary seats in Odisha, where the turnout was 64.05 per cent.A Congress worker was stabbed to death in Balikuda-Erasama are of Jagatsinghpur seat while he was returning from a polling booth. The victim, Lachman Behera, had recently quit the BJD to join the Congress, the official said.Clashes between supporters of the ruling BJD and the BJP were reported from Jajpur Kendrapara and Balasore Lok Sabha seats amid allegations poll rigging.Technical glitches in EVMs delayed polling in 60 booths, but it resumed after the snags were rectified.During a mock-poll in Madhya Pradesh, electronic voting machines (EVMs) were replaced at 207 polling booths as some glitches were found. EVMs were also replaced at 106 polling booths after the voting began, according to officials.Polling was peaceful in Rajasthan, with tribal dominated seat of Banswara recording the highest voting percentage at 72.34, followed by Barmer which recorded 72.21 per cent voting, according to state election officials.Nearly 55.86 per cent voting was recorded in Maharashtra (17 seats), 59.02 per cent Bihar (five seats) and 64.38 per cent Jharkhand (3 seats), according to data provided by the Election Commission.In Kulgam district of Anantnag constituency in Jammu and Kashmir, 10.5 per cent polling was recorded, amid isolated incidents of stone pelting. This was the second of the three-phase polling in the sensitive seat.Billionaires and Bollywood stars lined up outside polling stations along with the common folks in Mumbai, where polling was held in six constituencies. Celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, the Khan troika of Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir, Deepika Padukone, Sachin Tendulkar along with his wife and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray cast their votes in Mumbai. Actors Priyanka Chopra, Rekha, Aamir and his wife Kiran Rao were among the early voters.In Uttar Pradesh, opposition Samajwadi Party's alleged that many EVMs malfunctioned and in Kannauj, from where SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife and sitting MP Dimple Yadav is contesting, several party workers were prevented from coming out of their homes to vote.In Kanpur, BJP workers allegedly tried to barge into a polling booth and clashed with the police. A case was registered against BJP leader Suresh Awasthi and six others in this regard, Kanpur District Magistrate Vijay Vishwas Pant said.Reports were received of EVMs malfunctioning in Bidhauna area in Kannauj following which polling remained suspended for over an hour. Complaints were also reported in Etawah under Auriaya district, with voters claiming they had to wait for hours at polling booths in Tilak Mahavidyalaya, Sahupur, Ajitmal and Dalelnagar to cast their votes.According to a report from Hardoi, an elderly woman voter complained that the presiding officer at Jamkara booth forcibly pressed the EVM button. The sector magistrate removed the officer and handed him over to the police.Besides Dimple Yadav, prominent candidates in the fray in this phase are former ministers Salman Khurshid (Farrukhabd) and Sriprakash Jaiswal (Kanpur) of Congress, UP minister Satyadev Pachauri (Kanpur) and Sakshi Maharaj of BJP (Unnao)In Bihar, voting was delayed due to EVM malfunctioning at three polling stations in Munger, two polling stations in Darbhanga and three polling stations in Begusarai, from where CPI's Kanhaiya Kumar and Union Minister Giriraj Singh (BJP) are contesting, official sources said.Voting was also held for 41 Assembly seats in Odisha and Chhindwara Assembly bypoll in Madhya Pradesh, where Chief Minister Kamal Nath is contesting.Election to 542 Lok Sabha seats is being conducted in seven phases between April 11 and May 19. Election in Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu was cancelled. Results will be declared on May 23.<doc-sep>
ALSO READ: NEW DELHI: Polling will be held on Monday for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha election in 72 parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states.The stakes are high for the ruling BJP and its allies as it had swept 56 of these seats in 2014, leaving just two for the Congress and the rest for other opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress (six) and the Biju Janata Dal (six).Voting will take place in 17 seats in Maharashtra, 13 each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal, six each in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand and a part of the Anantnag constituency in Jammu and Kashmir.Election in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP had cornered all but two of the total 54 seats in 2014, will begin in this phase. The Congress appeared to make a comeback, forming the governments in the states after last year's Assembly polls.In the first three phases, voting has been held in 302 Lok Sabha constituencies, and 168 more seats will go to polls in the last three phases.The fate of 961 candidates, including Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Subhash Bhamre, S S Ahluwalia and Babul Supriyo of the BJP and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, will be decided by about 12.79 core voters in the fourth phase.Among other key contestants in the fray are Kanhaiya Kumar (CPI), Baijayant Panda (BJP), Urmila Matondkar (Congress), Dimple Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Satabdi Roy (TMC) and Milind Deora (Congress).The Election Commission has set up 1.40 lakh polling booths/stations and has made elaborate security arrangements.In Maharashtra, where election will come to end with this phase, the opposition Congress is facing a tough task of reclaiming its lost base in north Maharashtra and Mumbai, while the NCP is trying to get a foothold in Thane district and western Maharashtra. The BJP and its ally Shiv Sena had won all 17 seats in 2014.Union minister Subhash Bhamre and Congress leaders Milind Deora and Urmila Matondkar are among the 323 candidates in the fray in this phase.Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot's son, a member of erstwhile Jaipur royal family and two Union ministers are among 115 candidates whose fate will be decided on Monday.Jodhpur became one of the most talked about seats in the Congress-ruled state where Gehlot did massive campaigning for his son Vaibhav, pitted against sitting MP and Union minister of state Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.In Rajasthan, where the BJP had won all the seats in 2014, the Congress appeared to make a comeback, forming the government in the state with a narrow majority after last year's assembly polls.In Uttar Pradesh, most of these 13 seats are seeing a direct fight between the BJP and SP-BSP alliance with Kannauj being a matter of prestige for the SP.In 2014, the BJP won 12 of these 13 seats in the state. Only Kannauj, won by the Samajwadi Party, defied the Modi wave that year among them. Former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple is seeking re-election from Kannauj.The Congress has a good presence in at least three of the constituencies - Unnao (Annu Tandon), Farrukhabad (Salman Khurshid) and Kanpur (Sriprakash Jaiswal).In West Bengal, all the eight seats, which are spread across four districts, will see a four-cornered contest between Trinamool Congress, BJP, Congress and the Left Front.In Odisha, where the state's ruling BJD won all six seats, the BJP is making concerted efforts to bag a few seats.Prominent among the hopefuls include BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda (Kendrapara), who quit the BJD to join the party recently. Polling will also be held in 41 assembly seats in Odisha in this phase.In Bihar, the BJP and its allies are looking to retain all the five seats in the face of a spirited fight put up by the RJD-Congress alliance.The cynosure of all eyes in this phase, however, is the Begusarai seat which will witness an electrifying contest between the political Left and the Right with CPI debutant Kanhaiya Kumar taking on firebrand BJP leader Giriraj Singh.In all the six seats in Madhya Pradesh, a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP is on the cards.