LS polls: Uttarakhand records 53.56 pc voter turnout until 5 pm

Uttarakhand, which saw polling for all five Lok Sabha seats in the first phase of the general elections on Friday, recorded a voter turnout of 53.56 per cent till 5 pm, according to data shared by the Election Commission (EC).
Polling began at 7 am across 11,729 polling stations and was to continue till 5 pm, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Kumar Jogdande said earlier.
As many as 55 candidates across political affiliations pitted themselves in the battle for the Lok Sabha in the state, with more than 83 lakh registered voters adjudicating their fates.
According to the data released by the Election Commission, the highest voting percentage of more than 40 per cent was registered by the Nainital Lok Sabha seat till 3 pm, while Almora logged the lowest at marginally over 38 per cent.
Further, according to the data from the poll panel, 38.43 per cent voting was recorded in Almora Lok Sabha, 42.12 per cent in Garhwal Lok Sabha, 49.62 per cent in Haridwar Lok Sabha, 49.94 per cent in Nainital Udham Singh Nagar Lok Sabha and 43.61 per cent in Tehri Lok Sabha until 3 pm.
The BJP, which recorded a clean sweep in the hill state in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, is bidding for an encore this year, while the Congress is hopeful of reclaiming lost political ground in the state.
As polling for the Lok Sabha got underway on Friday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami urged the people to come out in record numbers and participate in the festival of democracy. He exhorted voters to exercise their democratic right and elect a strong and decisive government at the Centre.
The chief minister’s secretary and Garhwal Division Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey also cast his vote along with his family members at Sanatan Dharma Inter College in Dehradun, earlier on Friday.
While winning all five Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2014 and 2019 elections, the BJP topped the tally in the 2022 assembly elections, winning 47 of the 70 seats. The Congress finished at a distant second at 19 seats while the BSP and the Independents bagged 2 seats each.
Voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 began on Friday across 102 parliamentary constituencies spread over 21 states and Union Territories, as the mega seven-phase electoral exercise commenced at 7 am.
The second phase will be held on April 26 and the remaining phases on May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.
The last general elections in 2019 were also held across seven phases