Voting ends for 70% seats, but BJP's big fight has just begun

NEW DELHI: With the end of polling for the fourth phase on Monday, nearly 70% of India has voted in the 2019 general election, but the real battle for the BJP begins now, as 116 of the 282 seats it won in 2014 will go to the polls in the remaining three phases.

On Monday, voting took place in 72 constituencies across nine states, including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. Voting is now over in Maharashtra and Odisha.

According to Election Commission data at 6 pm, voter turnout stood at 64.04% across the nine states — nearly three percentage points higher than the voting figures for the corresponding seats in 2014.


The BJP will be on test from now on in both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — the states it lost to the Congress in the recent assembly polls. On Monday, voting was held for six seats in MP and 13 in Rajasthan.

In this phase too, West Bengal posted a high voter turnout of 76.4% at 6 pm. This is lower than the 2014 figure of 83.3%, but could go up later. The state voted amid reports of violence from Birbhum, Nadia and Asansol.

Central security forces fired a round at Dubrajpur in Birbhum constituency after a mob entered a polling booth. Sitting BJP MP Babul Supriyo’s car was attacked in Asansol, and Trinamool’s Birbhum district chief Anubrata Mondal was put under house arrest.

LOWEST TURNOUT IN J&K
Voting figures in Maharashtra ranged from just 42.99% in Kalyan to 68.05% in the tribal-dominated Nandurbar. The affluent Mumbai South seat — where Congress’ Milind Deora is pitted against sitting Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant — saw 50.34% voting.

Voter turnout in Jammu & Kashmir was the lowest in the fourth phase of polling, with just 10.3% recorded in the four segments of Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency. No untoward incident was reported here.

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar recorded 57.3% and 58.9% voter turnout, respectively, till 8 pm — close to the 2014 figures. The turnout in MP, Odisha, Jharkhand and Rajasthan ranged from 63% to 68%, in the vicinity of the 2014 figures.