New Delhi, May 11 (IANS) An astounding 500 million people in India have voted so far in the staggered Lok Sabha election, officials statistics show.

Of the 754.81 million eligible voters in the first nine phases, 499.18 million cast their ballot.

The highest turnout was recorded in the sixth phase held April 17, when 123.5 million people exercised their democratic right.

The parliamentary poll began April 7 and will culminate May 12. Votes will be counted May 16.

The turnout in all the phases were: phase 1 – 5.62 million, phase 2 – 3.21 million, phase 3 – 85.67 million, phase 4 – 0.42 million, phase 5 – 4.1 million, phase 6 – 123.58 million, phase 7 – 118.92 million, phase 8 – 92.23 million and phase 9 – 65.4 million.

Over 9,000 candidates were in the contest for the 502 Lok Sabha seats that have gone to polls so far.