NEW DELHI, Apr 19 : An aggregate 62.37 per cent voter turnout was recorded in phase one of the Lok Sabha polls on Friday, the Election Commission (EC) said.
While the figures were issued after the conclusion of polls, the commission said people who were in the queue when voting ended at 6 pm were allowed to exercise their franchise.
“The voting percentage is likely to go upwards when reports from all polling stations are obtained as polling is scheduled till 6 pm in many constituencies. Final figures will be known on Saturday after the scrutiny of form 17A,” the EC said.
Polling took place in 102 constituencies across 21 states and Union Territories in the first of the seven-phase elections.
The commission described the turnout as “high”, noting that voting remained “largely peaceful”.
In the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the voter turnout was recorded at 69.43 per cent. Some of the constituencies were different then and the total number of seats which went to polls were 91.
States, including Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territories of Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep completed their voting process on Friday in single-phase election.
For the first time, people in 56 villages in Bastar in Chhattisgarh cast their vote in polling booths set up in their own villages.
The poll authority pointed out that in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, voters belonging to the tribal communities came out in large numbers. The Shompen tribe of Great Nicobar made history by casting vote for the first time.
Voters braved the heat in most parts of the country while, at others, they waited patiently in pouring rain. (PTI)
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