New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) Some 83 million voted in 89 Lok Sabha constituencies across India Wednesday, a day an FIR was slapped against BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for showing off his party symbol close to a polling booth.
Braving the scorching summer, about 60 percent of the 139 million electorate trooped to over 150,000 polling stations in seven states and two union territories to pick 89 MPs from among 1,200 candidates including Congress president Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli), BJP president Rajnath Singh (Lucknow) and BJP patriarch L.K. Advani (Gandhinagar).
Wednesday marked the end of the eighth phase of 10-phased balloting that ends May 12 to elect a 543 members to the Lok Sabha, in which two members are nominated. The votes will be counted May 16. Polling is now over in 438 constituencies and wholly in 21 states.
Modi, the Gujarat chief minister, courted a controversy when he displayed a lotus symbol near the polling booth in Gandhinagar where he voted. He also clicked a selfie.
Opposition parties, including the Congress and the AAP, were quick to complain that this violated the model code of conduct. On the urging of the poll panel, the Gujarat authorities filed a police complaint against Modi.
Congress general secretary Ajay Maken said: "We appeal to the Election Commission to ask the Gujarat government not to come under pressure of the chief minister."
The complaint was lodged at the Ahmedabad City police station.
Polling was brisk in most places, barring Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar seat, where balloting was sluggish amid a boycott call by separatists. West Bengal as well as Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region, which also voted for a legislature for the proposed state, saw a huge voter turnout.
Apart from Srinagar where the voter turnout barely crossed 25 percent, heavy polling took place in Punjab (73 percent), Daman and Diu (76 percent) and Andhra Pradesh (70 percent). West Bengal saw a staggering 81 percent voter turnout.
Polling in Uttar Pradesh was around 57 percent, while in Bihar and Gujarat, it crossed the 60 percent mark.
Vadodara, from where Modi is contesting, recorded 70 percent turnout, while Rae Bareli, the constituency of Sonia Gandi, saw just over 51 percent of electors casting their ballots.
Balloting took place in Gujarat (26 Lok Sabha seats), Andhra Pradesh (17), Uttar Pradesh (14), Punjab (13), West Bengal (9), Bihar (7) and Jammu and Kashmir, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (one constituency each).
After voting in Gandhinagar, Modi flew to Bihar where he addressed a rally in Ujiyarpur Lok Sabha constituency calling for "a strong government in the country".
"It is certain a new government led by the BJP will be formed," he said, predicting a defeat for the Congress-led UPA government.
All 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat and all 13 in Punjab voted Thursday.
Punjab is witnessing some high-profile electoral battles. The most keenly watched contest is in Amritsar where the BJP's Arun Jaitley, fighting a Lok Sabha election for the first time, is pitted against former chief minister Amarinder Singh of the Congress.
In Andhra Pradesh, nine of the 10 districts which constitute the Telangana region recorded brisk voting.
Prominent among the contestants include union cabinet Minister S. Jaipal Reddy (Mahabubnagar), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao (Medak) and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad).
TRS chief Rao said he was confident of his party forming a government on its own strength in the proposed state of Telangana.
Heavy polling took place in West Bengal, following which the Communist Party of India-Marxist alleged "widespread rigging, violence and capture of polling booths" by the Trinamool Congress.
"Hundreds of polling booths were affected in Bolpur, Birbhum, Bardhaman Purba, Bardhaman-Durgapur, Howrah and Uluberia Lok Sabha constituencies," it said, demanding a re-poll.
"Polling agents of the CPI-M and the Left Front were driven out in a number of booths and blatant false voting has taken place in the presence of polling personnel," the party added.
Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi said polling was peaceful and no untoward incidents were reported, "except a few cases of boycott in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat".
On reports of booth capturing in West Bengal, he said the poll panel will scrutinise the report of election observers and the video recordings.
"If the reports are found to be true, we may go for repoll in those booths," he said.
Election Commission Director General Akshay Rout said that in polling held so far in 28 states, "26 states recorded higher turnouts than the last Lok Sabha election (in 2009) and 14 states recorded the highest ever turnout".
He said that until now, the overall turnout was 66 percent, compared to just 57.61 percent in 2009.
'This was not only my mission but the mission of the whole country, ' Shubhanshu Shukla shared his experience for the first time after returning from ISS
Astronaut and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla shared his experience in Delhi on Thursday after a successful mission to the International Space Station. In a joint press conference with ISRO Chairman
Kejriwal's 'cleaning' on the Yamuna: Delhi CM said - this work cannot be done in two days, tell six action plans
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held a press conference on Thursday. During this, he expressed concern over the filth of Yamuna. Also, give six action points. He said that the cleaning of Yamuna
Cabinet Decision: Pension of freedom fighters doubled in Maharashtra, EWS reservation also approved
The Maharashtra government has increased the pension of freedom fighters who took part in the Indian freedom movement, the Marathwada Liberation War, and the Goa Liberation War. The Maharashtra
Instructions on vaccine: State should be prepared for the side effects of vaccine, 29 thousand cold chain points were made for storage.
The Health Ministry has warned states about the side effects of the corona vaccine. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday that states and Union Territories (UTs) have to be prepared for the
IPL paved the way for other countries and sports: Professional league of 8 other sports started in India, 15 cricket leagues start including Australia and Pakistan
Indian Premier League (IPL) has proved to be a game-changer for cricket as well as other sports in India. After its success, a professional league of 8 sports including hockey, wrestling, badminton
Cruelty crossed the limits in Iran, a 20-year-old woman protesting against the hijab was shot in the face, and neck; Death
In Iran, women have taken to the streets to force the hijab. At the same time, another example of the brutality of Iranian security forces has come to the fore. Hadith Najafi, a 20-year-old girl, was
Coronavirus: The world is looking towards India for the vaccine, know the reason
new Delhi. Coronavirus has killed more than 2 lakh people so far. About 3 million people are infected with the Covid-19 virus. All the countries of the world are engaged in making vaccines or
Yodha Review: Siddharth Malhotra becomes the box office 'Yodha', the great debut of Sagar Ambre and Pushkar Ojha
Karan Johar has given opportunity to many new talents as a producer. Since the recognizable faces among these are from film families, people gravitate towards them more. This time Karan has brought
Xiaomi MI 11 Ultra and MI 11 Lite 5G to be launched in India on this day, know the special features of the phone
China's big smartphone company Xiaomi recently launched the Mi 11 series Globy. The company launched the Mi 11 Ultra, Mi 11 Pro, and Mi 11 Lite 5G in it. At the same time, these phones are going to be
The accounts of three foreign funds of Adani Group have been frozen? Congress sought response from the central government
The Congress on Tuesday asked the central government to freeze the accounts of three foreign investor funds holding a major stake in Adani group companies and break its silence on National Securities
