LS polls phase 2: Tripura leads voter turnout at 54.47%, Maharashtra records low polling

New Delhi: Over 39 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first six hours of polling on Friday in phase two of the Lok Sabha elections covering 88 seats in 13 states and Union territories amidst reports of EVM glitches and bogus voting in some booths in Kerala and West Bengal.

Voters in four villages of Uttar Pradesh's Mathura, Rajasthan's Banswara and Maharashtra's Parbhani boycotted polls over various issues.

Polling started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. Election officials said the highest voting percentage was recorded in Tripura which registered 54.47 per cent polling till 1 pm, while the lowest turnout was in Maharashtra at 31.77 per cent.

"Aggregate turnout at 1 pm in Phase 2 is 39.13 percent," the Election Commission said in a statement.

Kerala reported brisk polling with 39.26 per cent voters exercising their franchise.

However, electronic voting machine (EVM) breakdowns were reported in some booths of the state.

Three elderly persons and a polling agent died during the polling in the state. According to reports, one person each died at Palakkad, Alappuzha and Malappuram after casting their vote while a polling agent died after collapsing at a booth in Kozhikode.

In Karnataka, an estimated 38.23 per cent turnout was reported in the first half of the day. Out of 14 segments, the highest turnout of 48.10 per cent was recorded in Dakshina Kannada, followed by Udupi-Chikmagalur at 46.43 per cent, and the least 30.10 per cent in Bangalore Central.

Madhya Pradesh saw about 38.96 per cent of voters casting their ballots in six Lok Sabha constituencies, while voting for three Lok Sabha constituencies, having Naxalite presence, in Chhattisgarh saw 53.09 per cent of the electorate exercising their franchise.

A jawan of the Madhya Pradesh Special Armed Force deployed on poll duty allegedly shot himself dead with his service rifle in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district.

In Maharashtra, which has recorded low voter turnout so far, residents of a village in the Parbhani Lok Sabha constituency decided to boycott the elections to protest against the issue of encroachments.

Parbhani Collector and returning officer Raghunath Gawde interacted with villagers, urging them to vote. The village has 1,200 voters, West Bengal recorded nearly 47.29 per cent voters exercising their franchise in three Lok Sabha constituencies.

The Election Commission registered 290 complaints, mostly related to EVM malfunctioning, in the state.

In Manipur, a voter turnout of 54.26 per cent was recorded, while in Bihar, 33.8 per cent of over 93 lakh voters in five Lok Sabha constituencies exercised their franchise.

Congress's Kishanganj MP Mohd Javed, who is seeking re-election, filed a police complaint, alleging that his opponents issued a fake statement in his name asking voters to vote in favour of another candidate.

"It was an attempt by my opponents to mislead voters of Kishanganj. I filed a complaint against the suspects last night," he told reporters.

In the north, Uttar Pradesh recorded an average voter turnout of 35.73 per cent in eight parliamentary constituencies Voters of four villages in Mathura are boycotting the polls alleging indifference of representatives towards their basic problems.

"The villagers are being persuaded to cast their votes with assurance that their problems would be given top priority," District Magistrate Shailendra Singh said.

In Bulandshahr, voting could not start at the primary school in Chhotabas village in the Pahasu area with villagers staying away over the non-construction of a road. However, after persuasion of the administrative officials, voting began there around 11 am.

SDM, Shikarpur, Priyanka Goyal said the villagers have complained about the road and drainage problems which will be looked into. The villagers have now started arriving for polling, she added.

Rajasthan recorded nearly 40.39 percent voter turnout across 13 Lok Sabha seats and one assembly constituency.

However, in Banswara, no voter reached the Adibheet polling booth in the initial hours. The locals have certain demands regarding compensation against land acquired for a power plant and have declared to boycott the elections.

The officials said are trying to convince the voters to exercise their franchise.

Jammu saw over 42.88 per cent of the over 17.8 lakh eligible voters exercised their franchise.

The highest voter turnout of 52.68 per cent was recorded in Reasi assembly segment till 1 pm while the lowest voter turnout was recorded in the Jammu West segment at 31.49 per cent.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh said there is massive excitement among people. "This is the base of successful democracy and that is why it is called a festival... All the phases will turn out to be great for the BJP," he told reporters.

Assam saw 46.31 per cent voters turning out to exercise their franchise.

The highest polling of 49.72 per cent was recorded in Darrang-Udalguri, closely followed by 49.14 per cent in Karimganj, 46.40 per cent in Diphu (ST), 44.48 per cent in Nagaon and 40.23 per cent in Silchar.

Polling was held in 102 seats in the the first phase polls on April 19.

The turnout in the first phase was recorded at 62.37 per cent which may still be revised upwards as votes are tallied. The voting percentage in the first phase in 2019 was 69.43 per cent when 91 seats went to the polls.