Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency witnessed a post-militancy record turnout of voters on Monday, a trend seen in Srinagar as well during the fourth phase of polling on May 13.

The overall polling for the 49 seats that voted in the fifth phase on Monday, however, matched the 2019 levels.

According to the Election Commission of India, the average turnout (at 7.30pm) was 57.44 per cent and is expected to increase.

Bengal witnessed the highest turnout at 73 per cent with the state’s Arambagh seat polling the highest at 76.9 per cent.

The Kashmir Valley, which usually witnesses low turnout compared to the other seats in the country, polled higher than Bihar and Maharashtra. Baramulla saw a turnout of 59 per cent, almost 20 percentage points higher than 2019.

Maharashtra, which included Mumbai’s six seats, had the lowest turnout of 48.88 per cent in the fifth phase. The state is facing a heatwave.

The corresponding seats in the eight states and two Union Territories had seen around 61.82 per cent polling in 2019.

No major incidents of violence were reported.