Three States, 1 UT Fail To Match 2016 Poll Turnout

Bengal on Tuesday completed its third and so far most violence-marred round of polling out of eight phases with a voter turnout of 77.6% across 31 seats, several notches lower than the statewide figure of 85.2% in the 2016 polls.

Neighbouring Assam wrapped up its third and final phase with 82% polling in the last 40 of its 126 seats, again lower than the overall turnout of 86.9% five years ago. Two southern states and a Union territory — Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry — sealed single-phase polls across 404 constituencies with voting figures of 71.7%, 74% and 81.5%, respectively, all trailing the 2016 turnout by close to three percentage points.

When compared with the 2019 Lok Sabha poll numbers, only Puducherry exceeded the previous turnout of 81.3%. Barring Kerala, voting in the LS polls had been marginally lower than in the state polls three years earlier.