LIVE: Heavy voter turnout in 89 seats across 9 states in 7th phase of LS polls

New Delhi: The seventh phase of elections were concluded today in 89 Lok Sabha seats ofseven states and two union territories. Heavy voter turnout was reported from all the states.Nearly 139 million voters decided the electoral fate of over 1,200 candidates who are in the fray for 89 Lok Sabha seats. This was the seventh round of the staggered 10-phase general election that began April 7 and ends May 12. The votes will be counted on May 16.Uttar Pradesh:Uttar Pradesh saw 57.10 per cent voter turnout.Nearly 54 per cent voters exercised their franchise till 5 PM in Uttar Pradesh..Nearly 37 per cent voters exercised their franchise till 1 PMUP Governor B L Joshi, BSP supremo Mayawati, Congress candidate from Lucknow Rita Bahuguna Joshi, BJP National President Rajnath Singh and party leader Kalraj Mishra were among those who exercised their franchise.Dhaurahra witnessed 62.8 per cent polling till 1700 hours while Sitapur and Mishrikh recorded 59.4 and 53.96 per cent polling respectively.Unnao recorded 50.94 per cent polling, Mohanlalganj 56 per cent, Lucknow 50.5 per cent, Rae Bareli 48.1 per cent, Kanpur 50.2 per cent, Jalaun 52 per cent, Jhansi 63 per cent, Hamirpur 49.1 per cent, Banda 47.52 per cent, Fatehpur 54.58 per cent and Barabanki recorded 58.19 per cent polling.In Sitapur an FIR has been lodged against SP MLA Rampal Yadav after he entered into an altercation with CRPF jawan Dharampal Singh at Nauabehad polling booth in Biswan area.The fate of 233 candidates will be decided by 2.46 crore voters that include 1.34 crore men and 1.12 crore women.A total of 25,485 polling centres have been set up in which 3554 have been identified as critical. The focus would be on Rae Bareli and Lucknow seats from where Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP President Rajnath Singh are in the fray.Gandhi, who is contesting from her traditional Rae Bareli seat, has no major contestant against her with SP deciding not to field its candidate against her.The prestigious Lucknow seat, which is in the limelight with the entry of the BJP's national president, is set to witness a tricky contest.Rajnath, who is facing a four-cornered contest has two tasks at hand - first to maintain legacy of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and second to ensure a victory margin matching with his political stature.Meanwhile, British High Commissioner James David Bevan today reached Lucknow and visited a number of polling centres to see the polling exercise.According to official sources he also visited the election commission office and met Governor Joshi, Rajnath, Mayawati and Rita Joshi.He is also to visited polling centre in Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.Bihar:About 57.74 percent electors cast their ballots in Bihar Wednesday, even as many villagers boycotted the Lok Sabha election over power shortage and deficient infrastructure.Voting took place for Madhepura, Jhanjharpur, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Begusarai and Khagaria seats. A bypoll was also held for the Sahebpur Kamal assembly seat.Additional Chief Electoral Officer R. Lakshmanan said 57.74 percent voters exercised their franchise. "The polling passed off peacefully with no report of violence," he said.Long queues of people, including women and youth and first-time voters, were seen at polling booths since morning.Meanwhile, Krishna Paswan, independent candidate from Darbhanga, was arrested on charges of luring voters.At several places in Begusarai, Samastipur and Khagaria, villagers boycotted the polls saying they will not vote if there are no roads and no electricity.As many as 94 candidates were in the fray. Prominent among them are Sharad Yadav and Pappu Yadav from Madhepura, Hukum Deo Narain Yadav from Madhubani, and Ali Ashraf Fatmi and Kirti Azad from Darbhanga.More than 11 million people were eligible to vote at 10,157 polling booths. A total of 58,215 poll officials were deployed.This is the fourth round of polling in the state that sends 40 lawmakers to parliament. Polling for the fifth and sixth phases will be held May 7 and May 12.In the 2009 election, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United won five of these seven seats while its then ally, Bharatiya Janata Party, wrested the remaining two.Both parties are contesting the polls alone for the first time since 1996 after the JD-U ended its 17-year alliance with the BJP last year.Gujarat:Gujarat recorded 62 per cent voter turnout.Brisk polling was seen in 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat with around 47 per cent of the total 4.05 crore registered voters exercising their franchise in the state by 3 PM."At 3 PM, average voting on 26 seats in the state was around 47 per cent," Additional Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Manek said.Interestingly, the total voting for the 2009 assembly elections in Gujarat was 47.92 per cent.With few hours remaining before the end of the polling time, voting percentage is expected to be much higher than the last general elections.Inspite of scorching heat, with maximum temperatures hovering around 43 degrees in various parts, brisk polling was on in the state, election officials said.Constituency wise, the highest voter turnout was registered in Vadodara seat at 57 per cent till 3 PM where BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is contesting against Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry.While Valasd recorded 56.86 per cent and Chotta Udepur recorded 55.58 per cent voting.A rush of voters was witnessed across Gujarat in the morning with the voting percentage touching around 20-21 per cent till 11 AM in the state."In the first four hours the voting percentage is around 20-21 per cent in the state," Additional Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Manek said.Long queues were witnessed all over the state outside polling booths since early morning hours. People were found queueing up in front of the polling booths even before the polling started at 7 AM.Telangana:Hyderabad, April 30 (IANS) Nearly 72 percent peaceful polling was recorded for 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 state assembly seats in the first election in Telangana, which is set to born as India's 29th state on June 2.Officials said the polling was 68 percent at 5 p.m. Those standing in queues at 6 p.m. will be allowed to vote, said chief electoral officer Bhanwarlal.Barring minor incidents, balloting was on peacefully amid tight security at 30,574 polling booths across 10 districts of Telangana including Hyderabad.While nine districts recorded heavy polling, the turnout was low in Hyderabad. Bhanwarlal said 53 percent votes were polled in the city. Highest turnout of 75 percent was recorded in Khammam district.No incident was reported from any of the 10 Maoist affected assembly constituencies, he said. Polling in three of these constituencies ended at 4 p.m. and in the rest at 5 p.m.Clashes between workers of rival parties were reported from Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts.Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) candidate Mumtaz Ahmed Khan was arrested after a clash between MIM and Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) activists in Yakutpura assembly constituency in the old city of Hyderabad.In Gajwel assembly segment of Medak Lok Sabha constituency, police kept Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate Pratap Reddy under house arrest after a clash between TDP and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) activists. TRS chief K. Chandrasekara Rao is contesting for both Medak Lok Sabha and Gajwel assembly seats.In Maharajgunj assembly constituency in Hyderabad, Congress candidate and former minister Mukesh Goud's son Vikram Goud allegedly attacked workers of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally TDP.Two people were injured in a clash between Congress and TRS supporters in Kollapur constituency in Mahabubnagar district.A vehicle allegedly belonging to a Congress leader mysteriously caught fire in Suryapet in Nalgonda district. Bundles of currency notes of Rs.1,000 and 500 denominations, hidden in the engine, were found burnt. The driver escaped after the Innova vehicle caught fire.The vehicle carried legislator sticker reportedly belonging to Telangana Congress committee's working president Uttam Kumar Reddy, who is seeking re-election from Huzurnagar assembly constituency.The CEO said the vehicle was carrying Rs.2.5 crore cash. He, however, said the identity of the owner and other details would be known only after the driver is caught.More than 28.17 million electors are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first election in Telangana since parliament passed a bill in February for separate statehood to the region.As many as 265 candidates are in the fray for the Lok Sabha and 1,669 for the assembly constituencies.Technical snag in electronic voting machines (EVMs) led to delay in start of the polling at some polling centres.Bhanwarlal told reporters that some EVMs received from Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Hyderabad were in factory mode and the polling staff was unable to use them.He, however, said such EVMs were replaced in 20 minutes to half-an-hour as every district has 2,000 EVMs in reserve."There was a small technical snag in new EVMs. They are in factory mode and they have to be sent back to the factory but we have sufficient number of machines for immediate replacement," he said.The election authorities are using 100,000 EVMs. The CEO said these were new machines which arrived two days ago from ECIL and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).Director General of Police B. Prasada Rao said the polling was on in a peaceful manner. He said no untoward incident was reported from any part of Telangana.The CEO said 150,000 security personnel including paramilitary forces were deployed as part of the massive security arrangements. Four helicopters were also kept ready for contingency.Prominent among the contestants for Lok Sabha elections include union cabinet Minister S. Jaipal Reddy (Mahabubnagar), TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao (Medak), his daughter K. Kavitha (Nizamabad), Lok Satta chief Jayaprakash Narayan (Malkajgiri) and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad).As the state will be formally bifurcated in June, the Election Commission is conducting the polls in the undivided state.The elected legislators will be allotted to the respective states after June 2.Punjab:Nearly 73 percent of Punjab's 1.95 crore ballots were cast as the state's all 13 Lok Sabha seats went to the polls in a single phase, the Election Commission said.Despite scorching heat of the day when temperatures stayed over 40 degrees Celsius in most places, balloting continued at a brisk pace.Sangrur (69 percent), Bathinda (67) and Patiala (65) were leading in the number of votes polled. People queued up even before 7 a.m. when the polling stations opened.However, in Amritsar, where BJP leader Arun Jaitley is locked in a contest with former chief minister Amarinder Singh, only 60 percent votes were cast by 5 p.m. This was the second-lowest turnout in the state during the day after Hoshiarpur (54 percent).Both Jaitley and Amarinder Singh could not cast their ballot as they are not registered voters in Amritsar.Punjab has over 19.5 million (1.95 crore) voters. As many as 253 candidates were in the fray.Other prominent candidates are Akali Dal's Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Bathinda) and BJP's three-time MP and actor Vinod Khanna (Gurdaspur).In the 2009 elections, Punjab recorded over 70 percent polling. The Election Commission expected the polling to touch about 80 percent this year.Over 75,000 policemen and paramilitary troopers have been stationed across the state to ensure peaceful polling, Director General of Police Suresh Arora said.Daman & DiuOver two-thirds of the electors in Daman and Diu voted Wednesday for the lone parliamentary seat in the union territory, officials said.Poll officials said 66.6 percent voting was recorded till 3 p.m."Balloting has been largely peaceful and is moving on smoothly. No untoward incident has been reported yet," an official said.Incumbent MP Lalubhai Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party faces Ketan Dahyabhai Patel of the Congress, Bhavesh Patel of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Kessur Goan of the Aam Aadmi Party.Voting was moderate in the first couple of hours, with 14.35 percent turnout after polling began at 7 a.m. However, it picked up during the day. By 1 p.m., the turnout was 52.65 percent.District Election Officer Ramesh Verma said the turnout was expected to be higher than the 71.32 percent recorded in the 2009 polls.Polling is taking place Wednesday at 119 polling stations, with over 111,000 people eligible to exercise their franchise.Daman and Diu comprise two broadly detached districts in the country's western coast. Daman is an enclave on Gujarat's southern coast, situated 160 km north of Mumbai, while Diu covers an island off the southern coast of Gujarat's Kathiawar Peninsula, 64 km southeast of Veraval, as well as a small area on the mainland.The union territory is a former Portuguese colony.Dadar-Nagar Haveli:Dadar Nagar Haveli recorded 85 per cent voting, official sources in the UT said.Sporadic incidents of scuffle between different party workers were reported from various parts of the state, but no major incident of violence occurred till 1 PM.West Bengal:Amid allegations of booth capturing and demands for repolling by the opposition, around 81.35 percent of the electorate Wednesday cast ballot in nine Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal.Joint chief electoral officer (CEO) Saibal Barman said around 70 percent polling was recorded till 3 p.m. in the constituencies spread over four districts - Howrah, Hooghly, Birbhum and Burdwan.A by-poll is also being held for the Galsi assembly seat in Burdwan district.Over 1.39 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballot at 17,332 polling stations. As many as 87 candidates are in the fray for the Lok Sabha seats, and four in the Galsi assembly constituency.The Trinamool Congress, Left Front-spearhead Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are contesting all the parliamentary seats up for grabbing in Wednesday's polls.Left Front chairman Biman Bose accused the Trinamool of "rampant booth capturing" and demanded repoll. He dubbed the Election Commission as "inactive"."We had appraised the commission about how voters are being intimidated. Despite that, central security forces were not properly utilised. We have seen that the EC has failed to take steps that are essential for free and fair polls," Bose told the media here.Claiming a large number of booths were captured across Bolpur, Arambagh, Hooghly and Howrah among others, Bose demanded repolling."The EC will have to take a decision about repolling in the booths which have been captured. The EC will have to take stern action. Otherwise, the polls will turn into a farce," Bose said.CPI-M candidate from Bolpur Ramchandra Dome alleged that "miscreants patronised by the Trinamool Congress were preventing voters from expressing their democratic rights" and approached the poll panel seeking fresh ballting in nearly 100 booths.In Burdwan, a voter who was reportedly warned not to come out and vote was thrashed in public glare after he exercised his franchise, said CPI-M's Bardhaman Durgapur candidate Saidul Haque.Congress candidate from Sreerampore Abdul Mannan sat on a demonstration, alleging malpractices by the Trinamool."Despite repeated complaints to the EC, no step has been taken. Trinamool workers have driven out all other polling agents from booths and are casting votes in favour of their candidate," said Mannan.A first information report was filed against Jharna Roy, Trinamool panchayat member from Arambagh in Hooghly district, for allegedly casting the ballot of another voter, Arambagh sub-divisional officer Arindam Roy told IANS.However, CEO Sunil Kumar Gupta said there were adequate security measures across all the booths and polling was "largely peaceful"."Either the central or state security forces have been used to provide security cover to all the polling booths. Polling largely has been peaceful in all the seats and wherever we have received complaints, prompt action has been taken," he said.The BJP has fielded celebrities like Bollywood music composer Bappi Lahiri (Sreerampore), Bengali actor George Baker (Howrah) and eminent journalist Chandan Mitra (Hooghly).Film actor and sitting Trinamool MP Satabdi Roy is seeking re-election from Birbhum, while in Howrah, the party has nominated former India football captain Prasun Banerjee.In 2009, Trinamool had won five, and the Left Front spearheaded by CPI-M won four of the seats which vote Wednesday.Polling has been completed in 10 of the total 42 Lok Sabha constituencies.The final two phases of polling in the state will take place May 7 (six seats) and May 12 (17 constituencies). The results will be declared May 16.Here we are giving you live updates of today's polling:06:08 pm: 79% polling in West Bengal till 5 pm06:01 pm: 70% polling in Vadodra till 5 pm 05:58 pm: 64 % polling till 5 pm in Punjab05:57 pm: 54% polling till 5 pm in Bihar 05:54 pm: 54% polling in UP till 5 pm 05:30 pm: 52% polling in Bihar till 4 pm. 05:15 pm: 51.6% polling till 5 pm in Lucknow 04:35 pm: 27% polling till 3 pm in Srinagar04:19 pm: Approx. 65% polling till 3:00pm in Vadodara04:01 pm: 54 % Polling till 3 PM in Punjab03:54 pm: 45.59% polling in UP till 3 pm. 02:51 pm: Polling percentage till 2 pm in Bihar is 42.78% 01:59 pm: Polling percentage till 1 PM across 9 seats in West Bengal is 61%01:48 pm: 38% voting in Bihar till 1 pm01:21 pm: 38.23% polling in Barabanki till 1 pm 12:54 pm: 32.48% polling in Bihar so far. 11:31 am: 26% polling in Barabanki till 11 am 11:30 am: 23.7% voting in Kanpur till 11 am11:28 am: 20% polling inPatiala by 10 AM 11:27 am: 22.5% voting in Lucknow till 11 AM11:20 am: Congress complains to EC, demands filing of FIR against Narendra Modi for displaying election symbol and making a speech after casting vote.11:12 am: A Singhvi: Greed & craze to be PM is so much that he (Modi) has scant regard for EC's model code of conduct.10:56am- 15 pc polling in Gujarat till 9am10:45am- 18 pc polling in Bihar, 14 pc polling in Punjab till 10am10:44am- 12 pc polling in UP till 9am10:16am- Amit Shah: Advani ji will win by a huge margin, his biggest yet10:12am- Farooq Abdullah: I am very confident of winning, people won't vote for PDP9:44am- Modi: Two things are certain till now, Mother-Son Govt is gone, and second, foundation for a new stable govt has been laid9:37am- Kanpur: 10.94% polling till 9am8:56am- Modi tweetes: I request all those voting in 119 Assembly seats in Telangana region & in by-polls in Bihar, Gujarat, UP & WB to turnout in large numbers.8:37am - In Bihar, 4.85% polling takes place till 8am.