LS elections: Which states recorded highest, lowest voter turnout today
What's the story
Polling for 58 Lok Sabha seats across six states and two union territories ended at 7:00pm on Saturday. The sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections saw a voter turnout of approximately 58.82% as of 5:00pm. West Bengal led the pack with a high voter participation rate of nearly 78%. In comparison, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh reported slower voting with turnouts of 52.24%, 52.02%, respectively. Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri constituency reported a voter turnout of 51.35%, breaking a 28-year-old record.
Voting statistics
Delhi, Haryana, Odisha and Jharkhand record moderate turnouts
Delhi, which voted for all seven Lok Sabha seats, recorded a voter turnout of 53.73%. Following closely was Haryana with a turnout of 55.93%, Odisha at 59.60%, and Jharkhand leading these states with a turnout of 61.41%. The Election Commission of India said that around 11.13 crore individuals were eligible to vote in this phase of polling, which took place at 1.14 lakh polling stations. This includes 5.84 crore men, 5.29 crore women, and 5,120 third-gender electors.
Key candidates
Key candidates in the 6th phase
The key candidates for this phase were Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan from Sambalpur, Manohar Lal Khattar from Karnal, Sambit Patra from Puri, and Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur. Late Union Minister Sushma Swaraj's daughter Bansuri Swaraj was also in the race from the New Delhi constituency, as were Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi, industrialist Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra and Kanhaiya Kumar from North East Delhi.
Last phase
Last phase of the election on June 1
The seventh and final phase of the election will be held on June 1. This round will see polling in 57 parliamentary constituencies spread across seven states and a Union territory. These states include Uttar Pradesh and Punjab (13 seats each), West Bengal (9 seats), Bihar (8 seats), Odisha (6 seats), Himachal Pradesh (4 seats), Jharkhand (3 seats), and the Union Territory of Chandigarh (1 seat). The Lok Sabha election results will be declared on June 4.