Election concludes: Bengal puts UP, Bihar behind, records 79% polling

Bangalore, May 12: The final

of the Lok Sabha

2014 was held on Monday. A total of 41 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh (18), West Bengal (17) and Bihar (6) went to the polls in this phase.

Info on 9th phase:

Total states: 3 (UP, Bihar & West Bengal)

Total constituencies: 41

Total no. of voters: 66.13 million

Total no. of candidates: 606

Women candidates: 39

Total no. of polling stations: 71,254

Total no. of EVMs: 1,45,031

Total no. of personnel deployed: 2,41,245

[Read: 2009 results in today's constituencies in West Bengal & Bihar]

[Read: 2009 results in today's constituencies in UP]

[Read: Live updates of West Bengal polling]

6:47 pm: 55.34%, 55.29% and 58% polling have been recorded till 6 pm in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar respectively.

6:45 pm: West Bengal recorded 79 per cent polling till 6 pm. The total turn out figure in 17 constituencies were down from 2009 when 82 per cent polling recorded in the same constituencies.

6.07 pm: Polling ends for the last and final phase of Lok Sabha elections.

6.06 pm: Bihar records 53.82 per cent voting till 5 pm.

5.57 pm: West Bengal records 77.41 per cent voting till 5 pm.

5.46 pm: Varanasi records 53.10 per cent voting till 5 pm.

5.07 pm: West Bengal records 70 per cent polling till 4 pm. Mamata Banerjee cast her vote from Mitra Institution-

4.50 pm: Bihar records 50.85 per cent voting till 4 pm.

4.27 pm: Congress hits out at BJP says, Modi posting a video was intentional and planned, Ajay Rai's act may be unintentional. EC will take the decision they see fit.

3.46 pm: With the heat taking its toll during the election supporters, here's how Modi and Rahul supporters cool it off

3.45 pm: Bihar records 47.16 per cent polling till 3 pm.

3.38 pm: Varanasi records 44.75 per cent voting till 3 pm.

3.29 pm: West Bengal records 67 per cent voting till 3 pm.

3. 20 pm: BJP spokersperson Ravi Shankar Prasad holds a press conference says, Narendra Modi will win in Varanasi by a record margin.

3.04 pm: Defending his actions, Congress candidate Ajay Rai said: "I was not holding the party symbol, it is a routine to wear it on my clothes,did not flash it intentionally."

2.45 pm: JD(U) leader slapped voter during booth capturing, police said.

2.36 pm: Arrest warrant issued against JD(U) MLA Amarendra Pandey for capturing booth in Gopalganj.

2.33 pm: Congress VP Rahul Gandhi gets time till 15 May to reply to EC notice on his poll remarks.

2.26 pm: Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley says he has no doubt that exit polls will predict that large turnouts means a decisive vote.

2.17 pm: BJP defends Modi's video, says is it everyone's right to reach out to the people.

2.13 pm: Varanasi Police say FIR has been lodged against Congress candidate Ajay Rai on EC directive.

2.10 pm: Former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly casts his vote-

Meanwhile TMC candidate Dev was left red faced when he faced a 'Chiranjeevi' moment (read more)

2.04 pm: 35.38 per cent voting recorded in Varanasi till 1 pm.

1.52 pm: 37.86 per cent polling recorded in Bihar, 36.29 per cent polling recorded in Uttar Pradesh till 1 pm.

1.48 pm: SP faces allegations of poll rigging in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. However officials have dismissed such reports. " All the booths have been sanitised. There are no reports of rigging," says the Azamgarh District Magistrate

1.42 pm: 35 per cent voting recorded in Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh till 1 pm.

1.30 pm: 31% polling recorded in Bihar till noon. 56.38 per cent voting recorded in West Bengal till 1 pm.

1.25 pm: Protests erupt in Varanasi amidst polling as some voters complain of their names missing from the list.

1.15 pm: Narendra Modi is misusing social media & campaigning after campaign has stopped: Congress

12.37 pm: Crude bombs found outside BJP councillor's house in Kolkata.

12.24 pm: May women voters queue outside polling booths in Vaishali, Bihar

12.21 pm: Varanasi records 28 per cent voting till 11 am.

12.01 pm: Congress leader Ravi Kishan casts his vote from Jaunpur

12.10 pm: EC directs Varanasi Returning Officer to file FIR/ complaint against Cong candidate Ajay Rai for displaying party symbol at polling booth.

11.54 am: 40.02 per cent polling in West Bengal till 11 am, while 24.7 per cent recorded in Bihar, 23.7 per cent in UP.

11.52 am: Reports suggest that 24 per cent voting has been recorded in Varanasi till 11 am. Meanwhile Umesh Sinha, Chief Electoral officer has said that the Varanasi DM is directed to carry out investigation, action to be taken against Ajay Rai.

11.27 am: 40.02 per cent voting in West Bengal till 11 am.

11.25 am: 13 per cent voting recorded in Uttar Pradesh while West Bengal records 28 per cent voting till 10 am.

11.13 am: Responding to the controversy sparked off by Congress candidate Ajay Rai, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said: "Everyone takes their hand into poll booth, should we cut it off?".

He added saying that party which is winning by huge majority must not bother about such small things. He said that he would be happy if Modi retained Varanasi.

11.01 am: CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury today said that TMC is terrorizing people in WB. "But EC it seems is concentrating on only one constituency in India," he said.

10.50 am: Congress leader RPN Singh casts his vote from Kushinagar.

10.44 am: EC observer Praveen Kumar says flashing of party symbol a violation of election rules. Kumar said the EC was verifying the footage of Ajay Rai where he was seen sporting the party symbol.

10.36 am: 17.78 per cent voter turnout till 10 am in Bihar.

10.19 am: BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi reaches polling booth to cast his vote.

10.18 am: Sensex surges to fresh high of 23,410.36 points ahead of exit poll results.

10.10 am: BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad objected to Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav's picture on a laptop inside a polling botth in Chandauli saying it was a serious allegation. Speaking about Ajay Rai sporting party symbol he said, that different parties are being treated differently.

Meanwhile the EC has removed the pictures from these laptops being used.

10.07 am: 10.38 per cent voting recorded in UP till 9 am.

9.52 am: Congress however came out in support of Rai. Congress leader Meem Afzal said: "BJP earlier said if Modi was wearing lotus symbol then its nothing wrong, now saying take action against Ajay Rai."

Rai however justified his actions saying that he wore the party symbol as part of the routine.

9.47 am: BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said that 'need to see what steps the EC will take on Ajay Rai sporting his party symbol on his kurta. Javadekar earlier termed AAP as 'flip flop' and even called it a confused party.

9.43 am: 11.39 per cent voting recorded in Bihar till 9 am, while Varanasi records 20 per cent voting till 9 am.

9.27 am: BJP complains to Election Commission against Congress's Ajay Rai for sporting party symbol on his kurta.

9.19 am: Congress MP Naveen Jindal urges people to go out and vote on the last day of elections-

9.16 am: Congress candidate Ajay Rai sparks controversy for displaying the party symbol near polling booth. Rai was wearing the party symbol on his clothes when he went inside to cast his ballot (read more)

9.14 am: 21.04 per cent voting recorded till 9 am in West Bengal.

9.08 am: CPI member Brinda Karat said: "It's become clear RSS was deciding campaign & putting Modi forward. They were sowing the seeds of communal violence."

9.00 am: A laptop was seen bearing Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav's picture inside a polling booth in UP

Meanwhile SP leader from Azamgarh Durga Prasad Yadav said that Netaji would win the elections.

8.52 am: AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who is fighting from Varanasi against Narendra Modi and Ajay Rai today told reporters that people of Varanasi will vote for truth and honesty.

Dismissing Congress candidate Ajay Rai, Kejriwal said:"There is no three-way fight in Varanasi. It is a competition with Modi only. Ajay Rai is nowhere in the picture." Varanasi will defeat Modi, he said. (Read more)

8.40 am: RJD candidate from Siwan Heena Shahab casts her vote

8.31 am: 4.33% voter turnout recorded till 8 am in Bihar.

8.18 am: Long queues seen outside polling booths in Deoria-

8.14 am: Congress candidate from Varanasi Ajay Rai casts his vote, says 'Benaras ki ek rai, Ajay Rai (Benaras has one opinion, that is Ajay Rai )

8.08 am: Long queues seen outside polling booths in Varanasi.

7.50 am: Confident that BJP will win by a huge margin says BJP leader Yogi Adityanath.

7.42 am: BJP MP Yogi Adityanath casts his vote in Gorakhpur.

7.29 am: BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi also tweeted today urging voters to go out and vote in large numbers-

7.23 am: Congress candidate from Varanasi Ajay Rai was confident of winning the elections. Dismissing the Modi wave, he said that there was no Modi wave in Varanasi. "There is only Ganga river's wave in Kashi," he said.

7.15 am: TMC leader Derek O Brien outside a polling booth in Kolkata

7.00 am: Polling begins.

[Top contests: Narendra Modi vs Arvind Kejriwal vs Ajay Rai in Varanasi]

[Top contests: Mulayam vs Ramakant vs Jamali in Azamgarh]

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