UP polls: Phase-1 voting ends, nearly 59% turnout recorded
Voting concluded for the first phase of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday evening, sealing the fate of 623 candidates including 73 women.
A total of 2.27 crore voters of 58 assembly constituencies across 11 districts had exercised their franchise throughout the day. The polling time concluded at 6 pm. However, according to Election Commission (EC) officials, voters already in the queue were allowed to vote post the closing time.
According to the latest trends by the EC, nearly 59% (58.82% exact) of voter turnout was recorded in the first phase. Among the 11 districts, Shamli had the highest turnout at 66.14% while the lowest was from Ghaziabad at 52.43%.
Some of the state cabinet ministers who contested during the first phase included Srikant Sharma, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Lakshmi Narain among others. Srikant Sharma, who is the energy minister in the Yogi government, offered prayers before polling commenced.
Voters, braving the cold wave, were seen queuing up at polling booths to vote for their desired candidates amid heavy security cover. Given the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, polling officials were checking the temperatures of voters, sanitizing their hands among other precautionary measures.
More than 123,000 security personnel including those from the paramilitary were deployed for duty.
The entire polling process was peaceful but according to news agency PTI, a minor skirmish broke out between supporters of union minister V K Singh and Congress leader Rajan Kant in Ghaziabad. According to the agency report, the clash took place when BJP’s VK Singh was speaking to, and security personnel had to intervene.
Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav requested the polling body to take appropriate action wherever there were reports of technical snags in EVMs.
In some areas, there were reports of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) malfunctioning. The Election Commission said that all such complaints were addressed immediately.
The remaining phases will be held on February 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and 7. Counting of votes will take place on March 10.