Lok Sabha Elections Phase 3: Nearly 51% polling till 3 pm; Bengal records highest turnout

Lok Sabha elections third phase: Nearly 51 percent voter turnout was recorded until 3 pm across 93 constituencies in the third phase of polling, the Election Commission of India data revealed. West Bengal witnessed the highest voter turnout of 63.11 percent, while Maharashtra recorded the lowest. The average voter turnout in Maharashtra till 3 pm for 11 parliamentary constituencies was recorded to be 42.63 percent.

Voting percentages for other participating states as of 3 pm were: Assam--63.08 per cent, Bihar--46.69 per cent, Chhattisgarh--58.19 per cent, Goa -- 61.39 per cent, Gujarat--47.03 per cent, Karnataka--54.20 per cent, Madhya Pradesh--54.09 per cent and Uttar Pradesh--46.78 per cent.

Around 52.43 percent voter turnout was recorded in the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

More than 1300 candidates, including over 120 women are contesting in this phase. Some of the prominent leaders who were contesting in today’s poll battle included Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule.

Voting for Jammu and Kashmir's  Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat has been postponed and will now be held on May 25. The voting was originally scheduled to be held in the third phase.

The Lok Sabha elections are divided into seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. In total 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their vote in this phase at around 1.85 lakh poling stations. The vote counting will take place on June 4.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 72 of these 93 seats that went to the polls today.