The polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections concluded on Friday and the numbers issued on Saturday morning show that across almost all the 102 constituencies, the turnout was lower than in 2019. Only four seats reported a higher turnout than last time.
The data from the Election Commission of India, analysed by News18, shows that the average turnout on the 102 seats was around 66.38% this time while in 2019 it was 70.71%.
The exceptions
Four seats where the turnout was higher than the last time are Shillong (11 percentage points), Bastar (1.3 percentage points), and Jorhat and Vellore (both 2 percentage points).
In 2019, Shillong’s turnout was 61.6%, which increased to 72.26% this time. In Assam’s Jorhat, the voter attendance improved to 79.48% from 77.57% in 2019. In Chhattisgarh’s Bastar, the turnout this time was 67.56% and in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore it was 73.42%.
Coimbatore (64.81%), Kallakurichi ( 79.25%), and Salem (78.13%) also reported a small increase in turnout — less than one percentage point.
The worst-impacted constituency was the sole seat in Nagaland – where the voter turnout this time was 56.91%, down from 83% in 2019.
In six eastern districts of the state, not even a single voter showed up. The people were following a shutdown call for Frontier Nagaland Territory (FNT). These districts had more than four lakh voters out of the total 13.25 lakh in the state.
A similar situation was seen in conflict-hit Manipur. The turnout in outer Manipur was 65.22%, down from 84.14% in 2019.
Another northeastern seat reported a significantly low turnout – Arunachal East at 76.37%. In 2019, the turnout here was 87.03%.
In bigger states, where only a few seats had polling, the turnout dropped. In Uttar Pradesh, where eight seats saw voting, the average turnout was about 67% in 2019. This time it was about 60%.
In Maharashtra’s five seats, the average turnout this time was 62.44%, down from 64.65% in 2019.
Lakshadweep highest, Nawada lowest
In terms of voter turnout, the lone seat in Lakshadweep saw the highest turnout at 83.88% while Bihar’s Nawada saw the lowest turnout at 43.79%. However, in both these seats, the turnout this time was lower than last time.
In 2019, among these 102 seats, Arunachal East had the highest turnout at 87.03%. Nawada was the lowest turnout seat even in 2019, but its performance was better at 49.73%.
The second round of polling for the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will be held on April 26. The counting of votes will be done on June 4, after the last round of polling on June 1.
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