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It's official! India sets new record with 66.38% voter turnout
The curtain came down on the marathon Lok Sabha elections with an all-time record high turnout of 66.38 per cent as the final phase of polling covering 41 seats in three states replicated the trend of increased voters’ participation seen in the previous eight rounds.
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The overall turnout in all the nine phases of polling this year stood at 66.38 per cent, posting the highest in the history of Lok Sabha elections, surpassing the previous best of 64.01 per cent in 1984 in the wake of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The turnout in 2009 was 58.19 per cent.
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It's official! India sets new record with 66.38% voter turnout
The polling on Monday in 18 seats of Uttar Pradesh, 17 in West Bengal and six in Bihar was by and large peaceful barring stray violence in North 24 parganas district of West Bengal, which left 13 people injured.
The highest polling on Monday was recorded in West Bengal, where stakes are high for Trinamool Congress hoping to retain all the 14 of the 17 seats decided in the last phase and gain a few more in its final push to position itself as a key player nationally post-poll.
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It's official! India sets new record with 66.38% voter turnout
Bihar registered the second highest turnout in the last round with 58 per cent followed by Uttar Pradesh 55.29 per cent. The turnout in Varanasi, one of the most high-profile constituencies where Narendra Modi is pitted against Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and Congress’ Ajai Rai, was pegged at 55.34 per cent. It also witnessed a controversy over Rai displaying his party’s poll symbol, following which an FIR was registered against the Congress nominee.
Over nine crore voters were eligible to seal the fate of 606 candidates, including Modi, Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav , who was contesting from Azamgarh in the ninth phase of polling.
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It's official! India sets new record with 66.38% voter turnout
In Bihar, the turnout today was over 12 per cent higher in these seats than that in the last general elections in 2009 as voters ignored the searing sun and came out in large number in the six constituencies in the state where film-maker Prakash Jha and former union minister Raghubansh Prasad Singh were among the 90 candidates.
In Uttar Pradesh, the highest turnout was recorded in Maharajganj 54.40 per cent followed by Varanasi and Azamgarh with 52.3 per cent.
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It's official! India sets new record with 66.38% voter turnout
As many as 328 candidates, including Modi and Mulayam Singh Yadav from Azamgarh, are in fray in this last leg of polling.
Polling in West Bengal went off more or less peacefully barring the injury to 13 persons who were injured in a clash between Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Trinamool Congress supporters at Haroa in North 24 Parganas district.