Voters come out in force in final phase

New Delhi: Moderate to heavy polling is taking place in the 86 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across seven states and two union territories that are voting on Wednesday.

Till 1500 hrs IST the voting percentage in the states going to polls was as follows: Punjab 50.01 per cent, Uttarakhand 46 per cent, Tamil Nadu 45.86 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 38.72 per cent, West Bengal 45 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 41 per cent, Puducherry 51.88 per cent, Chandigarh 53 per cent and Jammu and Kashmir 34 per cent

In Uttar Pradesh the highest voter turnout till 1500 hrs IST was the highest in Pilibhit where 51 per cent pf the voters exercised their franchise. Varun Gandhi is contesting from Pilibhit as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.

At Rampur the poll percentage was 41 per cent. Samajwadi Party leader Jaya Prada is contesting against Congress' Noor Bano and BJP's Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

Mordabad, from where Congress has put up former Indian cricket team skipper Mohammad Azharuddin, saw 40 per cent of the voters coming out to cast their ballot.

Varun Gandhi also entered into heated arguments with some poll officials and accused accusing them of favouring of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Ganga Charan Rajput.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is contesting from Kolkata Dakshin in West Bengal, also alleged that the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres were rigging polls.

There are a total of 1,432 candidates including 93 women in the fray and close to 10.78 crore voters in the 86 seats that are voting on Wednesday in the fifth and final phase of 15th Lok Sabha elections.

There has been some poll-related violence too with one person each dying in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

In West Bengal a Trinamool Congress workers was allegedly killed in clashes with CPI-M cadres at around 0330 hrs IST in New Town in Rajarhat.

DMK member S Thangavel died after being stabbed during a clash between supporters of the ruling party and AIADMK in Dindigul town in Tamil Nadu.

In Punjab two cameramen of private TV channels were injured when they were allegedly attacked by activists of ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) at Duneke village on the outskirts of Punjab's Moga town when they recorded footage of party workers carrying weapons in vehicles, police sources said.

Prominent candidates whose fate would be decided in the fifth phase include Home Minister P Chidambaram, DMK's T R Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran and M K Azhagiri, Congress' Mohammad Azharuddin, BJP's Maneka and Varun Gandhi and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, MDMK's Vaiko and Jaya Prada.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chaterjee, CPI-M leader Brinda Karat, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa were among the early voters.