"Good sign for democracy": Telangana BJP chief Ramchander Rao credits voter list 'cleaning' for increased turnout

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], April 24 : Telangana BJP President N Ramchander Rao on Friday said the higher voter turnout in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal reflects a desire for change, adding that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls removing duplicate and fake entries has led to cleaner voter lists and strengthened democratic participation.

Speaking to ANI, Rao said, "The high percentage of voting in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal shows that people want change, and this voting perhaps is for change. SIR has taken place in both Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where the cleaning of the entire voter list took place. The duplicate votes, fake votes, and transferred votes have been deleted, and now the real voter lists have come. Therefore, the percentage of votes has increased, and this is a good sign in democracy... So, it is very happy to note that in a very good trend, the percentage of voting is increasing."

The Rao comments came after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said on Thursday that West Bengal and Tamil Nadu recorded the highest-ever voter turnout since Independence as polling concluded at 6 pm.

"Highest ever percentage of polling in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu since Independence - ECI salutes each voter of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu," CEC Gyanesh Kumar said.

Polling for the Assembly elections concluded at 6 pm on Thursday, with West Bengal recording a significantly higher voter turnout of 91.91 per cent in Phase I polling compared to Tamil Nadu, which recorded 84.80 per cent turnout, according to the latest data by the Election Commission of India.

The high turnout figures underline an active electoral exercise as polling drew to a close amid tight security arrangements across constituencies.

Several districts in West Bengal recorded over 90 per cent voter turnout. Dakshin Dinajpur led with 94.85%, followed by Cooch Behar at 94.54%, Birbhum at 93.70%, Jalpaiguri at 93.23%, and Murshidabad at 92.93%. The figures reflect consistently high voter participation across the state, with all major districts comfortably staying above the 90% mark.

Tamil Nadu also recorded strong turnout across key districts, with Karur leading at 92.48%, followed closely by Salem at 90.42%, Dharmapuri at 90.02%, Erode at 89.97% and Namakkal at 89.63%.

Polling for the 234 Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu and 152 constituencies in West Bengal began amid tight security this morning. Polling in the remaining 142 constituencies in West Bengal is slated for May 29, and counting of votes will take place on May 4.

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