The overall turnout for these seats in 2019 was 66%, barring delimited seats in Assam and Outer Manipur, a few assembly segments of which went to the polls in the first phase this time.
Defying summer heat almost all over the country and rain in J&K’s Udhampur, people came out in large numbers despite talk of a low-key campaign. Sources said the turnout is expected to go up further, with long queues seen at many polling stations well after polling hours. As per rule, all voters who are queued up at the polling station when polling time ends are allowed to cast their vote.
Election Commission has worked hard over the past couple of years to make a smooth and peaceful Lok Sabha election a reality. The first phase turnout is encouraging and should enthuse voters to come out in even higher numbers in the remaining phases, a senior EC functionary told TOI.
West Bengal, which has a history of poll violence and clashes between rival party workers, saw peaceful polling on Friday barring stray altercations in Cooch Behar. EC said none of these incidents had any effect on polling, as evident from the 79.4% turnout recorded across the three parliamentary constituencies of Alipurduars, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri.
Tripura too saw incident-free polling with the voter turnout touching 81.5% and Sikkim logged 80%, while other states where turnouts soared beyond 70% included Manipur, Puducherry (78.3%), Meghalaya (74.5%) and Assam (73.4%). Udhampur saw polling of 67.9% despite rain and terror threats.
In Bastar constituency of Chhattisgarh, voters defied threats from Left-wing extremists to clock a 67% turnout. As many as 56 villages in Bastar had polling booths set up for the first time in a LS poll. Like all turnouts put out on Friday, the one in Bastar remains tentative and is expected to go up further as polling parties return from interior areas and submit their reports.
Manipur, where ethnic violence has been a major law and order concern since mid-2023, saw by-and-large peaceful polling and an overall turnout of 70.8%.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which have traditionally been low-to-moderate turnout states, maintained the trend with 60.3% and 48.9% voting respectively. Rajasthan too had lower turnout than the national average at 57.3%, as did Maharashtra at 61.2%. Nagaland (56.9%) and Mizoram (56.6%), which usually see high turnout, witnessed some disappointment. Tamil Nadu, where polling for all 39 seats was held, recorded 69.1% turnout.
Recounting the vivid pictures of democracy in action during Phase 1, EC shared how the Shompen tribe of Great Nicobar in Andaman and Nicobar Islands made history by casting their votes for the first time in a general election. Meanwhile, an elderly couple in Mizoram reaffirmed their vow to vote together. In Arunachal Pradesh, an elderly woman trekked to the polling station rather than settle for the home voting facility. In Bodh Gaya, Buddhist monks proudly displayed their inked fingers.
With the first phase over, polling for Lok Sabha has been completed for 10 states/UTs, and assembly polls wound up in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. The latter states recorded a turnout of 68% and 66% in the assembly polls.