Hyderabad, May 14 : The voter turnout in Monday's elections to the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana was 65.67 per cent, it was announced on Tuesday.

The Election Commission on Tuesday announced the final polling figure, which is higher than the 2019 Lok Sabha polling figure (62.11 per cent) but lower compared to the November 2023 Assembly elections, when the state had recorded a turnout of 71.34 per cent.

A little over 3.17 crore voters, half of them women, were eligible to cast their votes. Of them, 2.18 crore cast their votes.

Bhongir Lok Sabha constituency recorded the highest turnout of 76.78 per cent, while Hyderabad saw the lowest polling at 48.48 per cent.

Urban constituencies saw lower polling than rural areas. In Secunderabad, the turnout was 49.04 per cent.

Malkajgiri and Chevella recorded 50.78 per cent and 56.4 per cent polling, respectively.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj stated that voting was conducted smoothly, peacefully, and without any major untoward incident for 17 Lok Sabha seats and the by-election to the Secunderabad Cantonment (SC) Assembly constituency, where the turnout was 51.61 per cent.

He said out of 2,20,24,806 voters who cast their votes in Lok Sabha polls, 2,18,14,035 voters cast their votes at 35,809 polling stations while 2,10,771 voters exercised their franchise in Voter Facilitation Centre (VFCs), Postal Voting Centres (PVCs), and through home voting.

A total of 1,89,091 electors on election duty cast their votes at VFCs or PVCs while 21,680 voters participated in voting at their homes.

Among Assembly segments, the highest poll percentage of 84.25 per cent was recorded in Narsapur, a part of the Medak Lok Sabha constituency, and the lowest, at 42.76 per cent, was recorded in the Malakpet Assembly segment of the Hyderabad parliamentary constituency.

In terms of numbers, the highest votes (3,85,149) were polled in the Medchal Assembly segment of the Malkajgiri parliamentary constituency and the least votes (1,05,383) were polled in the Bhadrachalam Assembly segment of the Mahabubabad parliamentary constituency.

The CEO said that all polled material including EVMs were sealed in the presence of observers/contesting candidates /election agents and stored safely in strong rooms, under constant monitoring by CCTV and security forces.

Counting of votes will take place on June 4 at 34 counting locations in the state under CCTV cover in the presence of counting observers, contesting candidates, election agents, and counting agents.

/IANS