Polling concludes for Phase 3, 60.19% turnout recorded till 5pm
Polling for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections concluded at 6:00pm on Tuesday. Amid largely peaceful polls, a voter turnout of 60.19% was recorded till 5:00pm. Among the 11 states that are polling in this phase, Assam, Goa and West Bengal recorded the highest voting percentages at 63.08%, 61.39% and 63.11% respectively till 3:00pm. The numbers are expected to go up.
3rd phase concludes polling for over half of total seats
While 94 constituencies across 12 states and UTs were scheduled to vote in third phase of polling, the Bharatiya Janata Party has already won Surat in Gujarat unopposed. Also, the voting for Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir has been deferred to May 25. However, polling in Betul, Madhya Pradesh—which was to be held in the second phase—was also held in third phase. This phase of the election concludes polling for over half of the total 543 parliamentary seats.
High-profile figures cast votes in Lok Sabha election
Here are the states and UTs where polling took place on Tuesday. Assam (4 seats), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Madhya Pradesh (9), Maharashtra (11), Uttar Pradesh (10), West Bengal (4). As many as 102 constituencies went to polls in the first phase, while 89 constituencies went to polls in the second phase.
BJP strongholds and key candidates in focus
The constituencies participating in this phase are traditionally seen as BJP strongholds. In the 2019 election, the BJP secured a sweeping victory with 72 out of the 92 seats that went to polls on Tuesday, including a significant win of 26 seats in Gujarat alone. Key contenders in Phase 3 of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections include Union Home Minister Amit Shah from Gandhinagar, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad.
Opposition candidates in fray
On the opposition side, notable candidates include the Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri, the Congress's Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Behrampore, and Digvijaya Singh from Rajgarh. The next phase of the election is scheduled for May 13, with the final vote count set for June 4 after the last phase concludes on June 1.
Voting concluded in 13 states, UTs in first, second phase
In the first two phases, voting concluded for all seats in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Puducherry. Voter turnout in Phase 1 and 2 of the Lok Sabha elections dipped to 66.14% and 66.71%, respectively, according to the Election Commission of India, making a decrease from the 2019 polls, which saw turnouts of 69.43% and 69.17% in the first and second phases, respectively.
