New Delhi, June 1 (FN Agency) The voting for the 18th Lok Sabha ended successfully on Saturday, with close to 59 percent of the electorate exercising their franchise in the seventh and final phase of polling covering 57 constituencies. The voting was held in seven states and one Union Territory. The biggest star constituency is Varanasi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a hat-trick of election wins. According to the Election Commission, at 5 pm, 58.98% voter turnout was recorded across seven states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
Bihar recorded the lowest voter turnout of over 48.86% while West Bengal recorded the highest at 69.89%. Now all eyes are on the counting, which will take place on June 4. In the concluding phase, polling took place in all 13 seats of Punjab, four in Himachal Pradesh, and a single seat in Chandigarh. Voters in 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, and three in Jharkhand also cast their ballots. According to the EC, the voter turnout in the sixth phase of polling on May 25 was 63.37 percent, while the fifth phase on May 20 recorded 62.15 percent voting. The fourth phase on May 13 registered a 69.16 percent turnout, while the third phase on May 7 saw a 65.68 percent turnout. The second phase on April 26 witnessed 66.71 percent voting, while phase one on April 19 saw 66.1 polling. In 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) raced to a thumping win, bagging 353 Lok Sabha while the UPA bagged only 91. Of this, the BJP won 303 seats and the Congress got 52.