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56.22 per cent polling in second phase

An estimated 56.22 per cent of 150 million voters exercised their franchise in eight states today, bringing to a close the second stage of the 13th general election.

The voting, Deputy Election Commissioner Subhas Pani said, was "practically incident-free and generally peaceful."

Giving the break-up, he said Andhra Pradesh saw a voter turnout of 65 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir 40 per cent, Karnataka 63 per cent, Kerala 65 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 54 per cent, Maharashtra 50 per cent, Rajasthan 53 per cent and Tamil Nadu 52 per cent.

With today's polling, the election was completed in 15 states and Union territories including Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu besides two state assemblies -- Karnataka and Maharashtra. In the 294-member Andhra Pradesh assembly, polling is being held for 105 seats today where 84 seats had gone to the polls in the first phase last Sunday.

Barring stray incidents of violence, polling was peaceful. In Satara, Maharashtra Minister of State for Revenue Udayanraje Bhosale and the BJP candidate for Satara was arrested in connection with the murder of a Zilla Parishad councillor early today.

The police fired ten rounds after Telugu Desam Party nominee Karanam Balram Murty from the Ongole Lok Sabha constituency in AP, along with 200 supporters, allegedly raided seven polling booths in the Parchur assembly segment and threw the ballot boxes into the nearby wells. They damaged the circle inspector's jeep in the same place, creating tension in the area.

The police also opened fire at Yakutpura area of Hyderabad to disperse clashing Majlis Bachao Tahreek workers who indulged in stone-throwing. Miscreants also damaged a jeep belonging to an MBT candidate. MB MLA Mushtaq Hussain was arrested for damaging an electronic voting machine in a booth near the Charminar in the city.

In another incident, TDP MLA N Gopal Rao, a candidate for the Kothur assembly seat, was arrested in Battali village in Srikakulam district for distributing money to voters. He was later set free.

Ballot snatching, pouring of water into ballot boxes and damaging of electronic voting machines were also reported in the state which recorded a turnout of about 50 per cent in the first five hours today.

Despite militant threats in Jammu and Kashmir, moderate to brisk polling was recorded in Jammu and Udhampur constituencies.

Polling is being held for 15 seats each in AP and Rajasthan, 20 each in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, 24 in Maharashtra, 14 in Madhya Pradesh, 13 in Karnataka and 2 in Jammu and Kashmir.

UNI

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