Indians show enthusiasm in election

In a rare show of enthusiasm in the general election, Indians Thursday staged a record high turnout in polling for the legislature in the capital Delhi and a dozen other states and union territories, said election officials.

Voting for MPs in 91 constituencies in 14 states and Union Territories, over 60 percent of 190 million voters in these areas went to the polling stations to select the next Parliament and Central Government, amid fierce fighting between the incumbent Congress Party and opposition Bhratiya Janata Party (BJP).

In Delhi, 64 percent of 12.7 million voters turned out to vote, 12 percent up from the previous election five years ago, while the neighboring city of Chandigarh registered a 74 percent turnout in the third phase of the 9-phase marathon election.

Voters in rebel-infested states of Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Bihar also defied threat by Naxalite rebels who killed two policement Thursday by turning out en masse to the polling booths.

In the riot-torne region of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, over 67 percent of voters joined the polling, as the western Uttar Pradesh witnessed an average of 65 percent turnout rate.

In Haryana neighboring the capital region, the turnout is 73 percent, while Indian-controlled Kashmir's Jammu region, which is a stronghold of Hindus of the territorially disputed region with Pakistan, the voter turnout rate stand at 66 percent.

In the The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory off the southeast Bay of Bengal, a record high turnout of 67 percent was reported. while another union territory in the Arab Sea, Lakshadweep, the turnout stood at 71 percent.

The Congress denied the high turnout is a sign of anti- incumbency, while the newly established anti-graft Aam Aadmi Party welcomed heavy polling as a show of democratic enthusiasm.