Panaji/Agartala/Gangtok/Guwahati: Hundreds of thousands cast their vote on Saturday in four states in the fifth phase of elections, marking the halfway mark in India’s 9-phase staggered polling.
Till now, over 170 million people have cast their vote across the country in 111 constituencies to choose from more than 1,500 candidates in the elections that began on April 7 and will end on May 12. Counting takes place on May 16.
On Saturday, balloting took place in three constituencies of Assam, two seats of Goa, Tripura’s second Lok Sabha constituency and Sikkim’s lone parliamentary constituency. Sikkim also saw assembly elections.
The voter turnout was high in all the four states and polling was largely peaceful.
Dhirendra Ojha, director in the Election Commission, said in Delhi that Tripura’s second Lok Sabha seat recorded a voter turnout of 81.8 per cent, while Sikkim recorded 76 per cent voter turnout. He put turnout in Goa and Assam at 75 per cent at least.
In Goa, known the world over for its beaches, voters came out in overwhelming numbers on Saturday, breaking all records as the state saw a whopping 76.82 per cent of its over one million electorate exercising their franchise, up from 55.36 per cent in 2009.
Chief electoral officer (CEO) Keshav Chandra said that no poll-related untoward incident was reported through the day.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, after casting his vote, said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win both seats and that voters have come out in large numbers to vote out the corrupt Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
“Goa does not see lines like these in the Lok Sabha election otherwise,” he said.
Congress candidate in North Goa, Ravi Naik however said the increase in vote was fuelled by the fear of Narendra Modi becoming prime minister and dissatisfaction with the state BJP-led government.
The main contenders for the North Goa seat are sitting MP and BJP candidate Shripad Yesso Naik, Ravi Naik and Dattaram Desai from the Aam Aadmi Party.
Aleixo Reginaldo from the Congress and BJP’s Narendra Savoikar were fighting for the South Goa seat, which the Congress has won in 10 out of 14 Lok Sabha elections.