Third phase over; PM Modi, Congress claim upper hand
The overall voting percentage was around 61.89 per cent, while that in the first and second phases was 66.14 per cent and 66.71 per cent respectively.
PM Modi casts his vote in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency
NEW DELHI: Nearly 62 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Tuesday in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories with stray incidents of violence in West Bengal.
Assam recorded the highest turnout at 75.53% followed by Goa at 74.47% and West Bengal at 73.93%, while Maharashtra witnessed the lowest at 55.54%, with Bihar at 56.55% and Gujarat at 56.98% doing marginally better, according to the “approximate trend” from the Election Commission at 9 pm.
The overall voting percentage was around 61.89 per cent, while that in the first and second phases was 66.14 per cent and 66.71 per cent respectively.
The stakes are high for the BJP in this round, as it had won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, in the last election.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah (Gandhinagar) is among the bigwigs in the fray in the third phase, along with Union Ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
Both the BJP and the INDIA bloc claimed that they had the upper hand after the third phase.
“Across all the states and UTs, voters from all walks of life have placed their faith in the NDA and our development agenda. INDI Alliance is losing even more steam, thanks to their regressive economics and outdated votebank politics,” Modi said on X. The Congress claimed that the BJP has been wiped out in the south and reduced to half of its strength after the three phases.