The Election Commission has updated the voter turnout figures for the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election, covering 58 constituencies across 8 states/union territories, to 63.37 percent. This revision comes after the initial estimate, released late Saturday night following the day's polling, had set the turnout at 61.20 percent.
Breaking down the revised numbers, the turnout among males stood at 61.95 percent, while females recorded a turnout of 64.95 percent. Third-gender voters participated at a rate of 18.67 percent.
Across the different regions, West Bengal saw the highest turnout at 82.71 percent for its 8 seats, while Uttar Pradesh reported the lowest at 54.04 percent across 14 seats. Notably, the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu & Kashmir saw a remarkable turnout of 55.40 percent, marking one of the highest in decades.
Other states and union territories recorded turnouts as follows: Odisha at 74.45 percent (6 LS seats and 42 Assembly seats), Jharkhand at 65.39 percent (4 seats), Haryana at 64.80 percent (10 seats), Delhi at 58.69 percent (7 seats), and Bihar at 57.18 percent (8 seats).
The electoral battle featured 889 candidates, including notable figures such as Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan contesting from Odisha’s Sambalpur, former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi from UP’s Sultanpur, former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangophadhyay from West Bengal’s Tamluk, industrialist Naveen Jindal from Haryana’s Kurukshetra (all representing BJP), Kumari Selja from Haryana’s Sirsa, Deepender Singh Hooda from Haryana’s Rohtak, J.P. Agarwal from Delhi’s Chandni Chowk (all representing Congress), PDP President and former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti (Anantnag-Rajouri), and actor-politician Deepak Adhikari Dev from West Bengal’s Ghatal (Trinamool Congress).
Noteworthy contests included Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of Union Minister Sushma Swaraj, making her electoral debut from New Delhi against Aam Aadmi Party’s Somnath Bharti, Congress’ Raj Babbar challenging Union Minister and sitting MP Rao Inderjit Singh in Gurgaon, and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s cousin Dharmendra Yadav contesting against sitting BJP MP Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirhua’ in Azamgarh.
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