50% turnout in third phase of Indian general elections

NEW DELHI, April -- India held the third phase of its general elections Thursday in a relatively peaceful atmosphere with an estimated 50 percent turnout, lower than that in the previous two phases of polling, said Indian election commission officials.

Heat in some parts of the country apparently affected the turnout rate although millions braved 40-plus degree high temperature to go to the polls.

Voters wait in line at Lucknow montessori school polling station in Lucknow, India, April 30, 2009. India held the third phase of its general elections Thursday in the month-long polling which started in mid-April.

This phase's poll, joined by half of 144 million voters, would determine the fate of 1,567 candidates for members of parliament, including Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and L.K. Advani, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate.

The 14 constituencies in West Bengal recorded the highest turnout of 64 percent, followed by the southern state of Karnataka with 57 percent, Gujarat with 50 percent and Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located, with 45 percent, said election commission officials.

Indian voters wait in line for their turn outside a polling booth in Lalgarh, some 175 km southwest of Kolkata, capital of eastern Indian state West Bengal, April 30, 2009. India held the third phase of its general elections Thursday in the month-long polling which started in mid-April.

The turnout rates in the previous two phases were 57 percent and 55 percent, respectively, according to official estimates.

The lowest turnout Thursday was in India-controlled Kashmir's Anantnag constituency with only a 26 percent turnout due to separatists' calls for boycott.

With the completion of the third phase, 372 out of 543 parliament members should have been elected, while the remaining two phases of the voting would be held on May 7 and 13 and counting of votes is due to be made on May 16.

Kashmiri Muslim voters wait in a queue to cast their votes at a polling booth during the third phase of Indian general elections in Veer Anantang parliament constituency, some 40 km south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian controlled Kashmir, April 30, 2009.

Two civilians were killed and a paramilitary trooper was injured when a landmines planted by suspected extreme-left rebels went off in West Bengal, said police.

Six people were injured in violent clashes between supporters of the BJP party and its rival party SJP in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, also according to the police.