60% Turnout Recorded in 6th Phase of LS Polls, One Killed in Bengal Violence

New Delhi: Amid violence in West Bengal in which one person was killed and reports of EVM glitches, the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections recorded an average of 60% polling for a total of 59 constituencies across seven states till 6 p.m.

The highest turnout was recorded in Bengal at 80.13% , Delhi 55.4%, Haryana 62.14%, Uttar Pradesh 50.82% , Bihar 55.4%, Jharkhand 64.46% and Madhya Pradesh at 60.12%.  The total turnout figure is likely to rise once the final reports from states arrive.

A total electorate of 10.17 crore was eligible to vote in the 14 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, 10 in Haryana, eight each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, seven in Delhi and four in Jharkhand. 

According to IANS, a BJP activist was killed in Jhargram in West Bengal while Trinamool Congress supporters sustained bullet injuries at Keshpur in West Midnapore district as a number of incidents of violence were reported in the state.

In Uttar Pradesh, where the contest is intense between the BJP and the SP-BSP alliance with the Congress becoming the third factor, street clashes were reported both in Jaunpur and Sultanpur, where Union Minister Maneka Gandhi is the BJP candidate.

In Delhi, which saw a triangular contest among the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress and BJP, seven constituencies went to polls. The highest turnout of 58.8% was recorded in North East Delhi where former Congress chief minister Sheila Dikshit is in the fray, followed by East Delhi at 57.4% where AAP’s Atishi is taking on cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir of BJP and Arvinder Singh Lovely of Congress.
New Delhi and South Delhi recorded lowest turnout of 51.9% and 52.5%, respectively. West Delhi saw 55.8% voting, while Northwest Delhi recorded a turnout of 53.5% and Chandni Chowk saw a turnout of 56.5%.

CPI(M) Writes to EC

On Sunday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) wrote to the Election Commission demanding action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making claims about his role in the Balakot air strike.

Referring to a TV interview, the CPI(M) said the PM violated the model code of conduct by making “outrageous claims”.

 "The interview wherein Modi gave out operational details of a sensitive military mission, with a purpose to influence the voters during the silent period of the campaign, needs to be recorded and acted upon by the Commission," party general secretary Sitaram Yechury  said.

In a TV interview aired on Saturday, Modi claimed that the Indian Air Force (IAF) was in two minds to carry out the air strike in Balakot in Pakistan due to adverse weather conditions. 

The Prime Minister claimed that the experts were in favour of deferring the strike, but he overruled them. The cloudy sky, Modi said, could be advantageous as the IAF planes would then escape detection by Pakistani radars. Modi also said he relied on his "raw wisdom" to dispel the doubts of the experts. 

In his letter, Yechury also said there were reports that Modi had again used the armed forces to seek votes at a rally in Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.

"Modi's words are truly shameful. Most importantly, because they insult our Air Force as being ignorant and unprofessional. The fact that he is talking about all this is itself anti-national; no patriot would do this," Yechury had tweeted after the interview was aired.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections started on April 11 and will end on May 19. The vote count will take place on May 23.

(Inputs from IANS)