E-Paper
UP panchayat polls: Moderate turnout recorded till 1 pm
The polling percentage in Bijnor was 41.22, 39.60 in Azamgarh, 35 per cent in Varanasi, 37.60 per cent in Lalitpur, 30.78 per cent in Sultanpur, 38.20 per cent in Kannauj, 35.67 per cent in Maharajganj and 30.37 per cent in Pratapgarh.
Moderate polling was recorded in the first six hours of voting on Monday for the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls in 20 districts where 3.48 lakh candidates are in the fray for over 2.23 lakh posts.
While Baghpat recorded the maximum polling percentage of 41.70 till 1 PM, Gonda recorded the lowest of 25.80 per cent.
The polling percentage in Bijnor was 41.22, 39.60 in Azamgarh, 35 per cent in Varanasi, 37.60 per cent in Lalitpur, 30.78 per cent in Sultanpur, 38.20 per cent in Kannauj, 35.67 per cent in Maharajganj and 30.37 per cent in Pratapgarh.
BJP MLA from Lambhua in Sultanpur Devmani Dwivedi said he could not cast his vote as his name was not in the voters' list.
"Barring me, names of my other family members including my mother, who is no more, were in the voters' list," Dwivedi told PTI.
Polling started at 7 am and will be held till 6 pm on Monday and over 3.23 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
In the second of the four-phase election, polling is being held in Lucknow, Varanasi, Amroha, Azamgarh, Etawah, Etah, Kannauj, Gonda, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Budaun, Baghpat, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Mainpuri, Maharajganj, Lakhimpur Kherm,
For the 787 posts of member of zila panchayat, there are 11,483 candidates and for the 19,653 seats of kshetra panchayat, as many as 85,232 candidates are in the fray.
As far as the gram panchayats are concerned, there are 1,21,906 candidates for 14,897 posts and for the gram panchayat wards, there are as many as 1,30,305 candidates for 1,87,781 posts.
The candidates are contesting on ''free symbols'' given by the Election Commission.
More than 2.31 lakh poll officials have been deployed by the State Election Commission (SEC) for a smooth conduct of the panchayat polls.
In the first phase of the polls, which was held on April 15, an average polling percentage of 71 was recorded.
The 2015 panchayat polls had registered a polling percentage of 72.11, according to the SEC.
In view of the coronavirus situation, the SEC had said last month that not more than five people would be allowed to accompany a candidate during door-to-door campaigning for the panchayat elections.
Additional Election Commissioner Ved Prakash Verma said three-member teams were formed under the additional district magistrates to ensure that the directives issued by the SEC were being followed.
At the district level, the chief medical officers have been made the nodal officers and stress has been laid on COVID-19 prevention.
Voters will mandatorily have to wear masks and maintain social distancing at polling booths. Instructions have also been issued to make circles and maintaining a distance of six feet between voters standing in the queue.
Verma said COVID-19 norms would be followed during the counting of votes and personal protective equipment (PPE) kits would be arranged according to requirements.
The Allahabad High Court had asked the Uttar Pradesh government to conclude the panchayat election process by May 25.
