Elections Phase 4: Voter Turnout At 59.18% As Of 6 P.M.

Overall voter turnout has shown improvement and was at 59.18 percent as of 6 P.M.

Mumbai has shown a significant improvement over the past two hours, particularly in the South Central, South and North West Constituencies. Overall voter turnout in the maximum city was at 50.5 percent at 6 P.M., closing in on the 51.48 percent turnout in the 2014 elections.

Billionnaire Mukesh Ambani, accompanied by Nita Ambani and their children, cast their votes in Mumbai today.

Overall voter turnout rose to 50.6 percent by 5 P.M. due to some movement in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mumbai has a notorious history of lower voter turnout among other metropolitian cities. This year has been no different. Till 4 P.M. the overall voter turnout was at 40.26 percent. The best turnout in the city was seen in Borivali (50.6 percent) and Dahisar (49.28 percent). The worst was turnout is seen in Bandra West (31.84 percent).

With roughly two hours to go for polling booths to shut, will Mumbai show-up or continue the trend?

The overall voter, at 49.54 percent, improved in the last one hour mainly due to Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

The overall voter turnout as of 3 p.m. stood at 42.90 percent. Here’s the breakup.

The overall voter turnout as of 2 p.m. stood at 38.63 percent. Here’s the breakup.

Jet Airways' Founder Naresh Goyal after casting vote at Villa Theresa High School, Peddar Road in Mumbai. Goyal declined to comment when asked about Jet crisis.

Here’s the breakup for voter turnout in the maximum city, as of 1 p.m.

The overall voter turnout as of 1 p.m. stood at 25.93 percent. Here’s the breakup.

“You have to vote with gratitude because what we have today is a privilege. My appeal to everyone would be to come because it is your right,” Mahindra Group’s Chairman Anand Mahindra said, adding that it is also an obligation and a privilege.

“I think the agenda is to take India forward which is corruption free and development based,” JSW Steel’s Managing Director Sajjan Jindal said. “We are a large country and there are issues like industrial growth, jobs, security. We need a very stable government in the centre to provide constant development.”

The overall voter turnout as of 12 noon stood at 23.64 percent. Here’s the breakup.

Here’s the breakup of the voter turnout in Mumbai as of 11 a.m.

The flying squad of the Election Commission seized Rs 64,500 cash from a car parked outside the poll campaign office of Shiv Sena candidate in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Monday, a police official said.

The raid was carried out in the early hours by the EC's staff near Central Park in Tulinj area where the poll campaign office of Sena's nominee Rajendra Gavit is located, he said.

The action was taken following a complaint by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi activists, including Vasai-Virar mayor Rupesh Jadhav, who alleged that cash was being distributed to lure voters, he said.

Based on the complaint, the car parked outside Gavit's office was checked by the police and EC staff, who found Rs 64,500 cash in the vehicle, he said.

During enquiry, the police found Shiv Sena MLC Ravindra Phatak and his supporters at the poll campaign office, he said.

The Tulinj police filed a complaint against Phatak for being present in the constituency even after the campaign was over, the official said.

Phatak violated Chapter 8 of the Model Code of Conduct which mentions that any political personality, who does not belong to the constituency, should not remain there after the campaigning gets over, he said.

An investigation was on into the incident, he added.

“This government has done a number of things to support financial inclusion and if they come to power, they’ll continue with it because we have to uplift the poor communities and bring them to the middle class. India’s strength is in bringing the bottom(line) up to the middle-class level.”

That’s the Chairman of HDFC, Deepak Parekh, after he cast his vote at a polling booth on Peddar Road, Mumbai.

The overall voter turnout as of 11 a.m. stood at 14.59 percent. Here’s the breakup.

"One never votes on just a few issues. Overall stewardship of the country is what we should consider when choosing a government," said Pirojsha Godrej, executive chairman of Godrej Properties.

"I think certainly economic issues are important given the stage of economic growth we are at but there whole lot of social and other issues that are also extremely important."

“I think we must exercise our fundamental right. Right from 1977, I've done it in every election. I make it a point to stay back (and vote) and I'm sure most of us would do that as well,” said Ajay Piramal, chairman of Piramal Group.

For the progress of South Bombay and the country in general, it is very important to vote, said Parth Jindal, Managing Director of JSW Cement. “Make your opinion count.”

“The issues are of both social and economical development,” said Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej Group, as he reached the polling station to cast his vote.

The overall voter turnout as of 10 a.m. stood at 10.36 percent. Here’s the breakup.

An estimated 10.94 percent of the 45.26 lakh electorate cast their votes in the first two hours of polling today in three Lok Sabha constituencies of Jharkhand, in the first phase of elections in the state.

Voters queued up before booths in Lohardaga (Scheduled Tribe), Palamu (Scheduled Caste) and Chatra constituencies since early morning, as polling began at 7 a.m., an election official said.

A large number of the women electorate were seen in urban areas of Palamu and Mandar in Lohardaga constituency, they said. The election officials said all preparations have been made to ensure fear and free polling till 4 p.m..

There are a total of 6,072 polling stations for the three seats, where 25,727 polling personnel have been deputed.

Police said there was no untoward incident reported so far from any part of the three constituencies.

A total of 45,26,693 voters will decide the fate of 59 candidates, including two women.

Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Sudarshan Bhagat is among the prominent candidates contesting from Lohardaga. He is facing Sukhdeo Bhagat, a Congress MLA and 'Mahagathbandhan' candidate.

Source: PTI

Here’s the breakup for voter turnout in the maximum city, as of 9 a.m.

“People of South Mumbai will look at good candidates,” said Congress candidate Milind Deora today morning, as he came in to cast his vote.

“In 2014, there was a big Modi wave. People ignored who the candidates were , what their criminal antecedents were, what they represented, what their ideologies were. This time, people will ask fundamental questions.”

The overall voter turnout as of 9 a.m. stood at 3.41 percent. Here’s the breakup.

Polling is underway for phase four of the Lok Sabha elections today. Here are some interesting nuggets about this phase:

• 72 Lok Sabha constituencies across nine states headed for polls
• Over 12.79 crore voters to decide fate of 961 candidates
• Over 1.40 lakh polling booths in place for smooth conduct of polls
• Anantnag Parliamentary Constituency in Jammu & Kashmir is going to polls divided in Phase 3, Phase 4 & Phase 5, the only such parliamentary constituency in the country
• The four districts to be covered in the Anantnag constituency are Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama.
• In Phase 4, only Kulgam district of Anantnag parliamentary constituency is going for polls.

With inputs from PTI

Voting began on Monday for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls in 72 parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states.

About 12.79 crore people are eligible for voting in the fourth of the seven-phase elections.

The Election Commission has set up 1.40 lakh polling stations.

Polling will be held in 17 seats in Maharashtra, 13 each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal, six each in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand and a part of the Anantnag constituency in Jammu and Kashmir.

The stakes are high for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies as it had swept 56 of these seats in 2014, leaving just two for the Congress and the rest for other opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress (six seats) and the Biju Janata Dal (six).

The fate of 961 candidates, including Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Subhash Bhamre, SS Ahluwalia and Babul Supriyo of the BJP and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, will be decided in this phase.

Election in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP had cornered all but two of the total 54 seats in 2014, will begin in this phase. The Congress appeared to make a comeback, forming the governments in the states after last year's Assembly polls.

With this phase, election will come to an end in Maharashtra and Odisha.

Voting is also being held in some Assembly constituencies in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.

In the first three phases, voting has been held in 302 Lok Sabha constituencies, and 168 more seats will go to polls in the last three phases.

Election to 542 Lok Sabha seats is being conducted in seven phases between April 11 and May 19. Election in Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu has been cancelled following excess use of money power. Results will be declared on May 23.

With inputs from PTI

Bihar

• Ujiarpur
• Samastipur
• Begusarai

Madhya Pradesh

• Jabalpur
• Mandla
• Balaghat
• Chhindwara

Maharashtra

• Dhule
• Mumbai North
• Mumbai North Central
• Mumbai North West
• Mumbai North East
• Mumbai South Central
• Mumbai South
• Maval

Odisha

• Bhadrak
• Kendrapara

Rajasthan

• Pali
• Jodhpur
• Barmer
• Jhalawar-Baran

Uttar Pradesh

• Unnao
• Farrukhabad
• Kannauj

West Bengal

• Baharampur
• Asansol

Here’s a ready reckoner on the states voting today, key seats and candidate details.

India has reached the halfway mark in the ongoing general election with the fourth phase of polling today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also filed his nomination from Varanasi, which goes to polls

Since the April 18 polling in 117 constituencies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has filed his nomination from the Varanasi seat, which goes to polls on May 19. Twitter upped its game to tackle rumours by adding a feature to let users report misleading content, actor Sunny Deol and singer Daler Mehndi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

With 65.61 percent polling in the previous round, Phase IV of the election is set to be a battle for 71 constituencies spread across nine states.