The second phase of the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 is off to a peaceful start with the 11 states and Puducherry registering 34.81 per cent polling till 1 pm on Thursday without any major report of violence.
The voter turnout in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh underway in the three constituencies — Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund, was 38.46 per cent till 1 pm. Voting began at 7 am amid thick security cover across the segments with heavy Naxal presence that fall under the three seats, where the people were seen turning-up enthusiastically in most of the polling booths. For various remotely located and hyper-sensitive polling stations, the staff were air-lifted on Wednesday. The challenge remains to ensure free, peaceful and credible polling in areas having the presence of outlawed CPI-Maoist. There are as many as 36 candidates in the fray in the three Lok Sabha constituencies whose fate will be decided by 49 lakh voters. The women voters outnumbered men in Masasamund and Kanker.
The ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh which returned to power after 15 years registering landslide victory in Assembly elections hopes to revive its prospects and improve the tally in the state against the BJP, which had won 10 out of 11 seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Brisk voting was witnessed with an average of 35.38 per cent votes already been cast till 1 pm across eight seats of western UP in the second phase amid calls of poll boycott at some places on Thursday. Serpentine queues of voters could be seen at places witnessing polling in the second phase.
Tamil Nadu recorded 32.01 per cent voting till 1 pm in 38 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state, with Chief Minister K Palaniswami and DMK chief M K Stalin among the early voters.
Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said polling has been peaceful until now and issues like technical glitches in some locations are being addressed. "Polling has been very peaceful," he told reporters here.
He said the state has recorded 30. 62 per cent voting till 11 am, with Arani registering the highest of 36.51 and Central Chennai the minimum of 22. 89 per cent. Giving information about voting for bypolls in 18 assembly segments, he said it ranged between 28 to 30 per cent and added more inputs are being collated. South Chennai has recorded 23.87 per cent, North Chennai 23.36 per cent and Madurai 25.41 per cent, he added.
Voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir is seen staggering at 20.06 per cent at 1 pm on the second phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha Election 2019. The 2014 Lok Sabha Elections saw a decent turnout of 65.23 per cent. Manipur, on the other hand, has already registered 47.78 per cent voting till 1 pm followed by Assam at 46.41 per cent. West Bengal (44.23%), Puducherry(41.29%), Bihar (38.48%) and Karnataka (33.42) are also off to a good start.
