50.72 cr of 76.41 cr voted in 5 phases: EC

New Delhi: Of the 76.41 crore eligible voters in the first five phases of the Lok Sabha polls, as many as 50.72 crore people have cast their vote, according to data shared by the Election Commission on Saturday. India has the largest electorate in the world at 96.88 crore. The EC data showed that 11 crore voters out of 16.64 crore total electors cast their vote in the first phase held on April 19 for 102 seats, the polling percentage being 66.14. In the second phase held on April 26 for 88 seats, the polling percentage was 66.71 with 10.58 crore people out of the total 15.86 crore eligible voters casting their vote.

The EC had directed election officials and state machineries to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather.

Over 11.13 crore voters - 5.84 crore male, 5.29 crore female and 5120 third gender - were eligible to exercise their franchise in this phase. The Election Commission (EC) deployed around 11.4 lakh polling officials at 1.14 lakh polling stations.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, who is contesting from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and

Kashmir, staged a sit-in outside Bijbehara police station on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in

Anantnag district against alleged detention of her party workers and polling agents. She also claimed outgoing calls on her mobile number were suspended.

Mehbooba's daughter and PDP leader Iltija Mufti alleged polling was deliberately slowed down at a booth in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency, a charge denied by the administration.

In the national capital, President Droupadi Murmu, Union ministers S Jaishankar and Hardeep Singh Puri, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi minister Atishi and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were among those who cast their votes.

CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat alleged she had to

wait for almost an

hour to cast her vote as the battery of the EVM control unit at her polling booth "drained out".