Gujarat sees highest jump in voter turnout over the last elections

NEW DELHI: Gujarat has emerged as the state with the highest jump in voter turnout so far over the last parliamentary poll, with 62% polling being recorded on Wednesday as against 47.89% in 2009. In fact, the turnout in Gujarat is the highest in the last 47 years, next only to 63.77% recorded in 1967 general election.

Though the reasons for this surge in voter enthusiasm in Gujarat are yet to be analysed, the projection of Narendra Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate could have been a major factor at play.

The fact that Vadodra, from where Modi is contesting, witnessed 70% turnout, as against the state's average of 62%, is also seen as an indicator of Gujarat's push to take him closer to the prime minister's chair. The filing of an FIR against Modi over his televised statement and his flashing of BJP's 'lotus' symbol just after voting in Ahmedabad seem to have made little difference to voter enthusiasm, given the 62.30% turnout in the city. The adjoining Gandhinagar, from where senior BJP leader L K Advani is seeking a re-election, too witnessed 62% polling.

Interestingly, Priyanka's high-voltage campaign in her mother Sonia Gandhi's constituency, Rae Bareli, did not really work wonders in bringing out a higher number of voters. According to the figure put out by the EC on Wednesday evening, the seat recorded 51.85% polling, which was just a modest improvement over the 48.32% turnout witnessed in 2009. All over Uttar Pradesh, where 14 seats went to polls, the turnout improved to 57.10% from 47.99%, but was lower than the turnout seen in the earlier phases of this election, possibly due to soaring temperatures. Lucknow, where BJP president Rajnath Singh is pitted against Congress' Rita Bahuguna Joshi, saw 55.22% turnout, while Jhansi, from where firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharati is in the fray, recorded much higher turnout of 62.88%.

Polling in West Bengal, where polling was held in 9 seats, saw a high turnout of 81.35%, which is expected to go up further to 83%. In 2009, the state had witnessed 81.91% polling.

Punjab, where the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal is battling anti-incumbency, saw 73% turnout, the highest ever. There was a case of EVM snatching in Patiala (Rural) constituency, which was followed by lodging of a FIR and arrest of the two accused. Bihar's 7 seats saw 60% turnout, a big jump over the 45.02% turnout seen in 2009.

Andhra Pradesh, where simultaneous polls to 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 assembly seats were held, the turnout touched 70%, as against 67.71% in 2009.

However, polling percentage in militancy-hit Srinagar constituency in Jammu & Kashmir remained low at 25.62%, though slightly better than the 25.49% turnout recorded in 2009. There were some minor incidents of stone-pelting in the constituency.

Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli saw highest ever turnouts at 80% (estimated) and 85% respectively.

With today's phase, polling for 438 parliamentary seats has concluded, leaving only 105 seats to be covered in the remaining two phases. The aggregate turnout so far has been 66.20%, a big jump over the corresponding 57.41% figure in 2009. Of the 28 states and UTs where polling has been completed, 26 states recorded higher turnouts as compared to the last poll. In fact, 14 of the 28 states registered the highest turnouts ever. Woman scored over men in terms of turnout in 10 of the 24 states where polls were completed by April 23, including in Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Chandigarh.