The overall voter turnout in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls on May 25 stood revised to 63.4% by Sunday evening, beating Phase 5’s 62.2%, which remains the lowest so far. However, the Phase 6 turnout is still way lower than the first four phases.
The overall turnout in Delhi stood revised to 58.7% from 57.7% on Saturday. This is, however, still lower than 60.6% in 2019. North East Delhi witnessed the highest polling at 62.8% and New Delhi clocked the lowest at 55.4%.
Polling data officially shared by the Election Commission on Saturday had put the Phase 6 turnout at 61.2%. It has since been constantly updated via the EC’s voter turnout app as more polling parties returned and submitted their reports, resulting in a 2.2 percentage points jump over the polling day figure. Also, the Phase 6 turnout is now 1.2 percentage points higher than Phase 5 polling, notwithstanding the high temperatures recorded in many of the constituencies that went to polls on Saturday.
The turnout data for Phase 6, as available on the EC app on Sunday, is almost final as no repolls were scheduled after scrutiny held on Sunday in the presence of candidates or their agents, sources said. However, the current turnout figures for all the phases are based on EVM votes and do not factor in postal ballots since the latter are counted only on results day.
The overall turnout in NCT of Delhi stood revised to 58.7% on Sunday evening from 57.7% at 11.45 pm on Saturday. This is, however, still lower than the 60.6% turnout recorded in 2019. All the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi too have clocked lower turnouts as compared to the last Lok Sabha election.
As per data available on the voter turnout app on Sunday evening, North East Delhi parliamentary constituency witnessed the highest polling in the state at 62.8%. Like 2019, New Delhi clocked the lowest turnout at 55.4%, followed by South Delhi at 56.4%. The polling percentage on Sunday evening was 57.8% in North West Delhi, 58.6% in Chandni Chowk, 58.8% in West Delhi and 59.5% in East Delhi.
State wise turnouts, as updated in the voter turnout app by Sunday evening, show the biggest rise of 4.9 percentage points in Odisha, up from 69.6% at Saturday to 74.5% on Sunday evening. Also, there was a climb of 4.4 percentage points in Haryana, up from 60.4% at Saturday to 64.8% on Sunday evening. The uptick was also significant in Odisha; the revised turnout was 4.1 percentage points higher that the 69.6% polling declared by EC towards the end of polling day.
West Bengal saw a 3.2 percentage point jump from 79.5% to 82.7%, possibly due to polling parties having taken time to return from the remote polling stations. The rise in turnout in Jharkhand was around 1.6 percentage points, in Bihar 1.9 percentage points, in J&K 0.5 percentage points and in Delhi, 1 percentage points.
The turnout figure for UP was almost the same as Saturday. The Commission had on Saturday said it will publish the updated voter turnout figures for Phase 6 by May 30. Turnouts - which are presently based on EVM votes and do not include postal ballots which are counted only on results day - have fluctuated through the phases, with Phase 4 having recorded the highest polling at 69.2%, followed by 66.7% in Phase 2, 66.1% in Phase 1 and 65.7% in Phase 3. The graph dipped to the lowest at 62.2% in Phase 5 but has since climbed back to 63.2% in Phase 6.
