“India created a world record with 64.2 crore voters, including 31.2 crore women, participating in the Lok Sabha elections this year,” Chief Election Commissoiner Rajiv Kumar said, while giving the voters a standing ovation.
Addressing the media on Monday, a day after two separate delegations of the Opposition’s I.N.D.I.A bloc and the NDA met the ECI for the counting day, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that Jammu and Kashmir recorded its highest turnout in four decades at 58.58 per cent overall and 51.05 per cent in the Valley.
“Voters scripted history in 2024. Over 31 crore women cast their vote. We have created a world record of 642 million voters. This is 1.5 times voters of all G7 countries and 2.5 times voters of 27 countries in EU,” he said.
The CEC said that there were fewer repolling in these Lok Sabha polls in comparison to the previous general elections. “Due to the meticulous work of the election personnel we ensured fewer repolls – we saw 39 repolls in Lok Sabha polls 2024 as opposed to 540 in 2019 and 25 out of 39 repolls were in 2 States only,” he added.
He further said that over 68,000 monitoring teams and 1.5 crore polling and security personnel were involved in the world’s largest electoral exercise. “Nearly four lakh vehicles, 135 special trains and 1,692 air sorties were used for conducting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Only 39 repolls took place in the 2024 general elections as against 540 repolls in 2019,” he said.
Rajiv Kumar also hit out at Congress Jairam Ramesh for his allegations that Home Minister Amit Shah had rung up 150 District Magistrates after the election process was completed. He said it was not right to spread rumours and doubt everyone.
“Can someone influence them (district magistrates/returning officers) all? Tell us who did this. We will punish the person who did it…It is not right that you spread a rumour and doubt everyone,” Rajiv Kumar said at a press briefing.
“Seizures of Rs 10,000 crore, including cash, freebies, drugs and liquor, were made during the 2024 polls as compared to Rs 3,500 crore in 2019,” he said.