High voter turnout in key day of India elections

NEW DELHI

Long, winding queues characterized the fifth and biggest phase of India's election, with votes being cast in 121 constituencies across 12 states on Thursday. 

Across the country, the turnout was more than 50 percent of the 166 million eligible voters but it was more than 80 percent in West Bengal. The key eastern India state sends 42 lawmakers to India's parliament. More than 60 percent voted in Indian-held Jammu & Kashmir; 58 percent in southern state Odisha, which also held state assembly elections; and a more moderate 40 percent in western state Maharashtra, where many first-time voters in education hub Pune city complained their name was missing from the voter list. 

In Indian-held Jammu & Kashmir more than 60 percent voted in one constituency, while southern state Odisha recorded 58 percent turnout for 11 constituencies. Odisha simultaneously held its state assembly election.

The pan-India voting, which began at 7am, largely remained peaceful with minor and sporadic incidents of violence.

In northern Jharkhand state, Maoist rebels blew up a railway track and attacked security personnel injuring four official paramilitary members. Despite the Maoist call for a boycott, at least 42 percent of the electorate voted in three constituencies.

In northeastern Manipur, the voting percentage stood at 71 percent for one constituency. Internationally-acclaimed human rights activist Irom Sharmila, who has been on a fast for 13 years to repeal a stringent anti-terror act, was not allowed to cast her vote because election laws does not allow voting rights for a person in jail. Sharmila is in detention for attempting to commit suicide.

In northern state Uttar Pradesh, India’s biggest and most populous state, 58 percent voted. A man reportedly committed suicide by setting fire to himself at a polling booth in the Aonla constituency.

There were reports of two polling booth capture in one constituency of Madhya Pradesh, where the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have strong support.

A number of prominent candidates contested seats on Thursday, including 76-year-old Jaswant Singh, a founding member of the BJP who is contesting a seat in Barmer as an independent after being denied a party ticket.  

The opposition BJP is trying its best to wrest control of the federal government, riding on a perceived "popularity wave" of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the controversial politician and three-time chief minister of western state of Gujarat.

The ruling Congress party-led coalition, the United Progressive Alliance -- which has governed India since 2004 -- has come in for sharp criticism and public scrutiny after a series of corruption scandals, policy paralysis and the slowing economy.

Out of the total 543 seats in the lower house of the Indian parliament, 232 have already gone to voting in the month-long national election.     

The next phase of voting will be on April 24.

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