New Delhi: High voter turnout today marked polling in the first major day of Lok Sabha elections covering 91 constituencies in 14 states and Union Territories as the exercise entered key battlegrounds of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where three securitymen were killed in a Naxal attack.
Delhi recorded its second highest voting percentage of 64.77 in Lok Sabha poll—up by a sharp 12 per cent over the last elections in 2009--for the seven seats for which BJP appears to be riding on “Modi wave” against challenge from AAP and a struggling Congress.
Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar witnessed Maoist-related violence which left 2 CRPF jawans and one state policeman dead.
The voter turnout this time was substantially higher over the last Lok Sabha elections in all the constituencies. Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in Uttar Pradesh, which had witnessed comunal riots in August last year, recorded “above average” voter turnout of 67.78 per cent and 70.85 per cent, respectively, Deputy EC Vinod Zutshi told reporters here. The 10 seats of Uttar Pradesh, which went to polls today, reported a record turnout of 65 per cent as compared to 51.30 per cent recorded in the last LS polls.
