There was a tremendous increase in voting in the ongoing assembly elections till 3 pm on Thursday. The highest turnout was in West Bengal, where 78.77% turnout was recorded, much higher than Tamil Nadu, which recorded 70.00% turnout. This information has been given by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The high level of participation indicates strong voter participation in both the states, with many districts in West Bengal crossing the 80% mark well before the polling time ended at 6 pm.
In West Bengal, several districts recorded exceptionally high voting figures, underscoring voter turnout.
South Dinajpur led with 81.49% voting, followed by West Medinipur with 81.07%, Jhargram 81.04% and Birbhum with 80.22% voting, second, third and third respectively.
Murshidabad also witnessed a turnout of 79.72%, while Darjeeling and Malda witnessed comparatively lower but still significant turnout at 76.54% and 76.22% respectively. The overall trend reflects a widespread and enthusiastic voter response in both urban and rural areas of the state.
Despite Tamil Nadu lagging behind West Bengal in terms of overall voting, encouraging figures were recorded in its various districts. Namakkal recorded the highest turnout of 76.43%, followed by Karur at 76.08%, Salem at 75.79%, Erode at 75.61% and Tiruppur at 75.38%.
Voter participation was also good in other districts like Dharmapuri (74.68%), Dindigul (74.35%), Kanchipuram (72.51%), Coimbatore (71.16%), Kallakuruchi (71.11%) and Tiruchirappalli (71.05%), contributing positively to the overall voting in the state.
Meanwhile, voting in by-elections held in other states remained relatively low till 3 pm. Umreth assembly constituency in Gujarat witnessed 46.66% voting. In Maharashtra, Rahuri recorded 39.60% voting, while Baramati recorded a slightly higher 40.36% voting.
According to the Election Commission of India, till 1 pm, there was heavy voting in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, where 62.18 percent and 56.81 percent voting was recorded respectively.
Voting for 234 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu and 152 assembly seats in West Bengal began this morning amid tight security. Voting will end today at 6 pm. Voting for the remaining seats of West Bengal will be held on May 29 and counting of votes will take place on May 4.
Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Archana Patnaik said there are more than 57 lakh voters in the state, including 2,93,04,905 female voters, 2,80,30,658 male voters and 7,728 third-gender voters.
The Election Commission is also counting 14,59,039 first-time voters and 68,501 serving voters, of whom 4,18,541 postal votes have been received. Additionally, 62 counting centers have been set up to ensure a smooth process after the crucial polling is over.
The main contest is likely to be between the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (comprising Congress, DMDK and VCK) and the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which has BJP and PMK as its allies.
