Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 61.11 percent voting took place in the sixth phase, highest voting in 40 years in Anantnag-Rajouri seat
Voting for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections has been completed. A total of 61.11 percent voting was recorded in 58 constituencies of 6 states and 2 union territories on Saturday. Meanwhile, 78.19 percent voting took place in West Bengal’s Jangal Mahal area. Incidents of minor clashes and protests were also reported from West Bengal, while EVM malfunctions were seen at some places including Delhi. According to the data released by the Election Commission till 11:45 pm, Jharkhand recorded 63.76 percent voting, Uttar Pradesh 54.03 percent, Bihar 55.24 percent, Jammu and Kashmir 54.15 percent, Haryana 60.06 percent, Odisha 69.32 and Delhi 58.70 percent voting.
Anantnag-Rajouri seat recorded the highest voting after 40 years
The Election Commission said that the voting percentage in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri seat was the highest in 40 years. With the completion of this phase, voting has now been completed in 486 seats of 28 states and union territories. The last phase of voting out of 7 phases is to be held on June 1 and counting of votes will be done on June 4. At the same time, in view of the scorching heat, arrangements of cold water, coolers, fans and tents were made at many polling stations. Wheelchairs were also kept to assist elderly voters. There were more than 11.13 crore voters in the sixth phase, including 5.84 crore men, 5.29 crore women and 5120 transgender voters. The Election Commission had deployed about 11.4 lakh officials at 1.14 lakh polling stations.
Voting for assembly elections in Odisha
President Draupadi Murmu, Union Ministers S Jaishankar and Hardeep Singh Puri, Delhi Government Minister Atishi, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi voted in the capital Delhi. Apart from all the seven seats in Delhi, polling was held in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats in Haryana, 8 seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, 6 seats in Odisha, 4 seats in Jharkhand and 1 seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from this, polling was also held for 42 assembly seats in Odisha and Karnal assembly by-election in Haryana.
Facilities provided to voters
Voting was held in Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shravasti, Dumariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr and Bhadohi seats in Uttar Pradesh. About 82.16 lakh voters, including 40.09 lakh women, were eligible to exercise their franchise in Giridih, Dhanbad, Ranchi and Jamshedpur constituencies of Jharkhand. To increase the voting percentage at urban polling stations in Ranchi, the district administration tied up with a bike-taxi service to provide free transportation to voters. A total of 86 candidates were in the fray for the eight Lok Sabha seats in Bihar – Valmiki Nagar, West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar, Vaishali, Gopalganj, Siwan and Maharajganj.
