New Delhi: Overall voter turnout in the phase 4 of the national elections stood at 64 per cent. West Bengal continued to witness an impressive turnout in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections with over half of the state's electorates having voted till 3.30pm. Voters in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh also braved heat and headed to polling booths in large numbers as the states recorded 56.37 per cent and 55.22 per cent respectively. Polling booth in Jammu and Kashmir, however, were largely empty with just 8.42 per cent of the electorates voting so far.
Sporadic violence in West Bengal and reports of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines or EVMs have marred phase 4 of the national polls in which 72 seats across nine states are voting. In West Bengal's Asansol, union minister Babul Supriyo's car was vandalised outside a polling booth there. The minister has filed a complaint with the Election Commission about the violence in the state and alleged instances of booth capturing. News agency ANI tweeted a video of a clash between Trinamool Congress workers and security personnel at a polling booth in the district. The district has been witnessing heightened tension since polling began for the phase 4 of the Lok Sabha elections. A 50-year-old woman poll official died after suffering a heart attack ahead of voting in Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh, news agency PTI quoted an official as saying.
Voting began across 72 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over nine states, mostly in the Hindi heartland, at 7 am. In Mumbai -- where all the six seats are voting today, actors and captains of the Indian industry were seen patiently waiting in queues early this morning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to come out and vote in large numbers and break the "records of the previous three phases". "Another phase of the General Elections begins today. I hope those voting today do so in large numbers and break the voting records of the previous three phases. A special appeal to young voters to head to the polling booth and exercise their franchise," PM Modi tweeted.
About 12.79 core voters in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir will decide the fate of 972 candidates. Prominent among them are Union Minister Giriraj Singh, former JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, former Union Minister Milind Murli Deora.
While 17 seats in Maharashtra are going to polls in the fourth phase, 13 seats each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal, six in Madhya Pradesh, six in Odisha, five in Bihar and three in Jharkhand are voting today. Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm at all polling booths in these nine states.
In Jammu and Kashmir, polling duration for Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency has been curtailed by two hours following a request from the state police.
Of the 72 seats, mostly on the Hindi heartland, the BJP will aim to defend 56 seats it won in the 2014 elections. The Congress -- which won just 2 seats -- will aim to better its tally.
Among other parties, BJD won all six in Odisha, Trinamool Congress six in West Bengal and Samajwadi Party won a seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Polling for the seven-phase election ends on May 19, the counting of votes will be held on May 23.
Here are the live updates from Phase 4 of the Lok Sabha Election 2019:
Apr 29, 2019 20:42 (IST)
NCP president Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and Union minister Smriti
Irani were prominent among the political leaders who voted in Mumbai Monday. MNS president Raj Thackeray and his wife Sharmila had to wait for more than an hour at a polling centre in Shivaji Park area to cast their votes.
Apr 29, 2019 19:53 (IST)
Overall voter turnout for the fourth phase was 64%.
Statewise breakup:
Rajasthan: 64.5%.
Jammu And Kashmir (Anantnag): 10.5%.
Madhya Pradesh: 65.77%.
Jharkhand: 63.39%.
West Bengal: 76.44%.
Bihar: 58.92%.
Maharashtra: 58.23%.
Odisha: 68%.
Uttar Pradesh: 57.58%.
Apr 29, 2019 19:32 (IST)
BREAKING: Overall turnout 57.58 in today's polling in 13 UP constituencies: Chief Electoral Officer
Apr 29, 2019 18:54 (IST)
67.36 % polling in Rajasthan till 6 pm. Barmer records 72.82% turn out. Jodhpur has 67.62% and Jhalawar records 71.99%. All 13 seats has crossed the 60% mark.
Apr 29, 2019 17:56 (IST)
An average 63 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm across six Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh Monday, an official said.
Apr 29, 2019 17:06 (IST)
An average 55.31 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 4 pm across six Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh Monday, an official said.
The polling began at 7 am.
"An average 55.31 per cent turnout was recorded till 4 pm," an election official said.
The voting figures till 4 pm were as follows: Sidhi- 46.85 per cent, Shahdol-55.93 per cent, Jabalpur- 53.87 per cent, Mandla -56.16 per cent, Balaghat -60.18 per cent and Chhindwara- 59.87 per cent.
In Chhindwara assembly by-poll, where Chief Minister Kamal Nath is in the fray, the voting percentage till 4 pm was 53.33 per cent.
Barring the Maoist-affected Baiher, Lanjhi and Paraswada Assembly segments under Balaghat parliamentary seat, polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm everywhere. In Maoist-affected areas, polling was held from 7 am to 4 pm.
Apr 29, 2019 17:01 (IST)
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.
Apr 29, 2019 16:35 (IST)
Tejashwi Yadav claimed journalists are being beaten by Nitish Kumar's relative:
"Journalists are being beaten up by Nitish Kumar's relative cum casteist goons and still no outrage because these goons belongs to dominant upper caste therefore no Jungalraj cry in Bihar now. EC in New India has mortgaged its soul & objective to BJP headquarters." --he tweeted.
Apr 29, 2019 16:24 (IST)
Poll percentage was 37.71 per cent in five seats of Bihar; 43.44 for six seats of Madhya Pradesh; 29.95 in 17 seats of Maharashtra; 35.79 in six seats of Odisha; 44.62 for 13 seats of Rajasthan; 34.42 in 13 seats of Uttar Pradesh and 44.90 in three seats of Jharkhand.
In Anantnag which voted in the second phase of its three-phased election, the outcome was pathetic with security forces having to use pellet shots and tear smoke to disperse stone pelters. Reports said four protesters sustained pellet injuries during these clashes.
Apr 29, 2019 16:23 (IST)
Amid widespread violence in West Bengal, EVM glitches in Rajasthan and Jharkhand, and officials removed in Odisha, voter turnout touched almost 40 per cent till 2 p.m. in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on Monday.
Despite clashes between Trinamool and BJP workers in Asansol, Bengal voter registered the highest poll percentage of 52.37 per cent, while the lowest was in Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir, which was just a little over 7 per cent.
Apr 29, 2019 16:20 (IST)
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.
