More than 57 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the fifth phase of voting in the Lok Sabha election on Monday.
The voting for 49 parliamentary constituencies in 94,732 polling stations spread across eight States and Union Territories that commenced amid tight security at 7 am concluded at 6 pm. The polling was reported to be by and large peaceful.
Out of the 49 Lok Sabha seats in the fifth phase, 14 parliamentary seats were from Uttar Pradesh, 13 from Maharashtra, seven from West Bengal, five each from Bihar and Odisha, three from Jharkhand, one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
According to the data issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on its voter turnout app, the polling percentage was recorded at 57.51 per cent. West Bengal recorded the highest turnout at 73 per cent, Ladakh 67.15 per cent and Jharkhand 63 percent.
Uttar Pradesh registered a 57.79 per cent turnout and Jammu and Kashmir 54.67 per cent, as per the data of the poll panel.
The fate of 695 candidates was sealed in the EVMs. Prominent candidates from the BJP are Union Ministers Rajnath Singh (Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh), Smriti Irani (Amethi) and Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North, Maharashtra), while from the Congress is Rahul Gandhi (Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh) and K L Sharma (Amethi).
Other key candidates in the fifth phase include former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah(Baramulla) and president of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) Chirag Paswan (Hajipur, Patna).
Elections also took place for the 35 Assembly constituencies of the Odisha Assembly simultaneously. As per the voter turnout app, Odisha recorded 60.70 per cent turnout in the second phase.
The Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases between 19th April and 1st June. The first phase of polling was held on 19th April, second phase on 26th April, third phase on 7th May and fourth phase on 13th May. The first phase recorded 66.14 percent voter turnout, second 66.71 percent, third 65.68 per cent and fourth 69.16 per cent.
The sixth phase of voting is scheduled to take place on 25th May. The results will be declared on 4th June.