‘EC salutes voters’: Tamil Nadu, West Bengal record highest-ever turnout since Independence

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu and West Bengal recorded bumper polling connected Thursday, with the Election Commission (ECI) saying some states saw their highest-ever elector turnout since Independence arsenic voting ended astatine 6 pm.Polling concluded astatine 6pm, with West Bengal signaling a turnout of 91.91% successful the archetypal of 2 phases, portion Tamil Nadu saw 84.80% voting, according to the latest information by the ECI.“Highest-ever polling percent successful West Bengal and Tamil Nadu since Independence — the ECI salutes each voter,” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said, according to ANI.Several districts successful West Bengal recorded implicit 90% turnout, led by Dakshin Dinajpur (94.85%), followed by Cooch Behar (94.54%), Birbhum (93.70%), Jalpaiguri (93.23%) and Murshidabad (92.93%).Tamil Nadu besides saw beardown participation, with Karur starring astatine 92.48%, followed by Salem (90.42%), Dharmapuri (90.02%), Erode (89.97%) and Namakkal (89.63%).Polling for each 234 assembly constituencies successful Tamil Nadu and 152 of 294 seats successful West Bengal began astatine 7 americium amid choky security. Voting for the remaining 142 seats successful West Bengal volition beryllium held connected April 29.Counting of votes successful some states is scheduled for May 4.In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee and the TMC person been successful powerfulness since 2011, with the main curate present seeking a 4th consecutive term.

The BJP is the main challenger aft its best-ever show successful the authorities successful 2021.In Tamil Nadu, the DMK, which heads the Secular Progressive Alliance, is successful power. Its main challenger is the National Democratic Alliance, led successful the authorities by the DMK’s arch-rival, the AIADMK.In the 2021 assembly elections, elector turnout stood astatine 85.2% successful West Bengal and 76.6% successful Tamil Nadu.