Elections 2019 Phase 6: Voter turnout highest in West Bengal till 9 am

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As polling began in 59 parliamentary constituencies across the nation for the penultimate and sixth phase of general elections, West Bengal saw the highest voter turnout in the initial hours of voting despite instances of violence, while Delhi and Haryana saw tepid voter turnout.

As of 9 am on Sunday, West Bengal witnessed 16.66 per cent voting, while Jharkhand recorded second highest voter turnout of 14.97 per cent.

The polling percentage in other states: Bihar (9.03 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (8.32 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (7.58), Haryana (5.48 per cent) and Delhi (5.18 per cent).

Also read: Elections 2019: Voting recorded by 9 am for Lok Sabha seats

Among the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, voting percentage is highest at East Delhi (8.16 percent), followed by North East Delhi (8.02 percent), West Delhi (7.76 percent), Chandni Chowk (4.24 percent), New Delhi (3.56 percent), North West Delhi (2.58 percent) and South Delhi (1.13 percent).

Polling is being held on eight seats in Bihar, all ten seats in Haryana, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal and four in Jharkhand, in addition to Delhi.

Long queues were seen at various booths in the eight seats of Morena, Bhopal, Bhind, Guna, Sagar, Gwalior, Vidisha and Rajgarh where polling was underway, another official said.

In the ongoing phase of elections, among the heavyweights in the fray are former chief ministers Akhilesh Yadav (from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh), Digvijaya Singh (from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh), Bhupinder Singh Hooda (from Sonepat in Haryana), and Sheila Dikshit (from North-East Delhi).

Former Union Minister and RJD veteran Raghuvansh Prasad Singh are in the fray from Vaishali in Bihar, while Congress general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia is contesting from Guna in Madhya Pradesh. Scindia, who is seeking a re-election from Guna seat, went early in the morning to exercise his democratic right at a booth in his constituency after the polling began at 7 am. State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V L Kantha Rao and his wife were also among the early ones to cast their votes at the Char Imli booth in the state capital Bhopal.

Re-polling is being conducted at booth number 116 in West Bengal's Barrackpore parliamentary constituency and station number 110 in Arambag Lok Sabha seat, along with one polling station each in Puducherry and Tripura.

The seventh and last phase of elections will take place on May 19 and counting of votes will take place on May 23.

The elections in this phase are seen as a big test for the BJP which had won 45 of these seats in 2014, with the Trinamool Congress bagging 8, the Congress two and the Samajwadi Party and the LJP one seat each among others.

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies