62 percent turnout in final phase of general elections poll

New Delhi, May 13 (PTI) An estimated 62 percent of the
Indian electorate today exercised their franchise in the fifth
and final phase of polling in general elections, bringing down
the curtain on the month-long democratic exercise, the longest
in the world.

Barring stray violence which left two persons dead, the
final round saw voting in 86 constituencies where nearly 11
crore voters were eligible to vote, across nine states and two
union territories, including all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu,
considered a key swing state, where the turnout was recorded
at 60-62 percent in the 39 seats.

Skirmishes marred polling in some places in Tamil Nadu
leaving one local DMK functionary dead in Dindgul district.

Fifty two percent of the voters turned out in the 14
constituencies of Uttar Pradesh spread across Rohilkhand
region and western part of the state which put to test the
Muslim-Yadav vote bank of Samajwadi Party.

About 70 per cent turnout was recorded in the 11
constituencies in West Bengal which went to poll today and the
exercise passed off by and large peacefully except the killing
of a local CPI(M) leader allegedly by Trinamool Congress
activists.

Chief Election Commssioner Navin Chawla told reporters
here that the overall turnout of voters involving nearly 714
million voters in the five phases was 59-60 per cent.

Prominent candidates in today's round included Home
Minister P Chidambaram, DMK's T R Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran and M
K Azhagiri, Congress' Md Azharuddin, BJP's Maneka and Varun
Gandhi and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, MDMK's Vaiko and SP's
Jayaprada.

Congress' Mani Shankar Aiyar, Sajjad Gani Lone of
People's Conference, BJP's Vinod Khanna and Navjot Singh Sidhu
were also among the big names in this round that saw a total
of 1,432 candidates jumping into the fray.

Besides all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, elections were held
to four seats in Himachal Pradesh, two in Jammu and Kashmir,
nine in Punjab, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in West Bengal, five
in Uttarakhand and the lone one seat each in both Chandigarh
and Puducherry.

Uttar Pradesh, which returns the highest number of MPs
(80), and Jammu and Kashmir were the only two states to go to
polls in all the five phases.

Terming the five-phase election as highly satisfactory,
Chawla said the exercise was by and large peaceful barring a
few incidents.

He said altogether 37 people were killed in the staggered
polls, including 23 in poll-related violence. Fourteen people
lost their lives in accidents and health problems.

Repoll or adjourned poll was conducted in 648 polling
stations in various parts of the country in the first four
phases of elections.PTI