Lok Sabha polls | Puducherry’s voting percentage stands at 78.80

Puducherry records 78.80% voter turnout for Lok Sabha seat, with Bahour having highest turnout and Mahe the lowest.

The final voter turnout for the lone Puducherry Lok Sabha seat stood at 78. 80 % as per data revealed on Saturday, April 20, a day after polling.

The Assembly segment of Bahour recorded the highest voter turnout of 88.76 % and the enclave of Mahe recorded the lowest turnout of 65.11 %., Chief Electoral Officer P. Jawahar said.

Among the four regions, Puducherry recorded the highest polling percentage of 79.69, followed by 76.8 % recorded in Yanam and 75.65 % in Karaikal. Assembly segments such as Mannadipet, Thirubhuvanai, Oussudu, Mangalam, Kalapet, Nellithope, Ariankuppam, Manavely, Embalem, Nettapakkam, Bahour and Nedungadu registered more than 80 % polling, data revealed.

Next to Mahe in terms of low voter turnout was Karaikal South. The Karaikal South Assembly constituency registered only 71. 01 % votes.

Women outnumber men in the Union Territory as a percentage of the total electorate. Polling data revealed that the polling percentage among women voters was 78.78 compared to 78.33 among men voters.

Mr. Jawahar said no untoward incident was reported in the 967 polling stations across the four regions. During the course of polling, 10 ballot units, 5 control units and 16 VVPATs were replaced after the machines become non-functional due to technical glitches. All the machines were replaced with reserve units and polling resumed within a short period, he said.

A source in in the Election Department said voting machines and allied equipment were moved from polling booths to the control rooms in the four regions in the wee hours of Saturday. The process of moving the machines started after polling ended on Friday evening, the source said.