NEW DELHI: After an 11-day delay since the first phase of voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) finally released the official overall turnout data for the completed phases on Tuesday.
According to the ECI, the voter turnout in the first phase was recorded at 66.14 percent, while in the second phase, it slightly increased to 66.71 percent.
This turnout was observed across 102 parliamentary constituencies (PCs) in the first phase and 88 PCs in the second phase. In comparison, the turnout in the first phase of the 2019 polls was 69.43 percent.
The official data indicates that in the first phase, the voter turnout was 66.22 percent for males, 66.07 percent for females, and 31.32 percent for third-gender voters, resulting in an overall turnout of 66.14 percent. Voting for this phase took place on April 19. In the second phase, which occurred on April 26, the turnout was 66.99 percent for males, 66.42 percent for females, and 23.86 percent for third-gender voters, with an overall turnout of 66.71 percent. Bihar recorded the lowest voter turnout of 49.26 percent in the first phase, while Uttar Pradesh recorded the lowest turnout (55.19 percent) in the second phase.
The EC highlighted that out of the 21 states and union territories that went to polls in the first phase, 11 recorded a higher turnout of women voters, including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal.
In the second phase, where 13 states and UTs went to polls, six registered a higher women voter turnout, including Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Kerala, and West Bengal. Explaining the delay in announcing the official data on voters’ turnout, ECI officials clarified that it could only be released after counting the postal ballots and adding them to the total EVM vote count. “This includes postal ballots given to service voters, absentee voters, those above 85 years of age, persons with disabilities, those on essential services, and voters on election duty,” a senior ECI official said.
Congress general secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh, questioned the delay in a post on X, stating, “For the first time, even 11 days after the first phase of the polls and four days after the second phase, the final voter turnout has not been published by the ECI. In the past, the ECI used to publish the final voter turnout immediately after voting or within 24 hours.”
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said, “Finally, ECI has released the final voter turnout figures for the first 2 phases, which are substantially higher than the initial figures. But why are the absolute numbers of voters in each Parliamentary constituency not provided?.”