2024 LS polls: Over 45% voting in Uttarakhand by 3 pm

Dehradun: More than 45 per cent polling was recorded till 3 pm in the five Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttarakhand on Friday, officials here said.

A total of 55 candidates are in the fray and more than 83 lakh people are eligible to cast their votes. The polling in the hill state is being held in a single phase.

The voting began at 7 am and the five constituencies recorded an overall poll percentage of 45.62 at 3 pm, the officials said.

The Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat recorded the highest voter turnout of 49.94 per cent, followed by Haridwar (49.62 per cent), Tehri Garhwal (44.05 per cent), Pauri Garhwal (42.12 per cent) and Almora (38.43 per cent).

The final voter turnout in the 2019 general election in Uttarakhand was 61 per cent.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was among the first batch of people to cast their votes. Along with his mother and wife, Dhami arrived at the Nagra Terai polling station in Khatima and stood in a queue to exercise his franchise.

Talking to reporters, the chief minister said there was great enthusiasm among people.

"Uttarakhand has seen unprecedented development in the last 10 years. All sections of the society have benefitted from it. They will vote to give a third straight term to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi," he said.

Dhami also spoke of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) "Sankalp Patra" (manifesto), which talks about the need for a Uniform Civil Code in the country on the lines of the one passed by the Uttarakhand Assembly.

"The Ganga of UCC that has originated from Uttarakhand will flow throughout the country," he said.

Former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, who is the BJP candidate from Haridwar, also cast his vote along with his wife and two daughters. Rawat said he is confident of winning the seat by a margin of more than five lakh votes.

Among the other prominent people who cast their votes were yoga guru Ramdev and his aide, Acharya Balkrishna. The duo voted at the Dadubagh polling station in Kankhal at around 10 am.

Ramdev told reporters that he has voted for heritage-based development and culture-based prosperity of the country.

"I have voted to free India from economic, educational, medical and cultural slavery," he said.

BJP's national spokesperson and Pauri Garhwal candidate Anil Baluni also cast his vote.

Just-married couples in their wedding attires turned up at various polling stations to exercise their franchise. Aged and differently-abled voters were carried to polling booths on stretchers and wheelchairs.