E-Paper
Third phase polls: Uttar Pradesh records over 63 per cent voter turnout
The average voter turnout in the first phase (February 10) was 62.43 per cent and in the second round (February 14) of the 2022 UP polls, it was 64.44 per cent.
Uttar Pradesh recorded an average voter turnout of more than 63% in the third phase polls of the seven-phase state assembly election across 59 constituencies spread over 16 districts on Sunday, according to data available with the election commission.
The average voter turnout in the first phase (February 10) was 62.43% and in the second round (February 14) of the 2022 UP polls, it was 64.44%.
In the 2017 assembly elections, the average poll percentage in these 16 districts was 62.21%.
While the third phase polls, which was held from 7am to 6pm, largely remained peaceful, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker was shot at about 400 metres from the polling station in Avadh Nagar locality of Mainpuri City. Police said the accused was arrested later and is believed to be a worker belonging to the Samajwadi Party (SP).
In the 2017 elections, the BJP won 49 of the 59 seats while the SP settled for nine. The Congress got one seat, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) drew a blank.
The battle for the Karhal seat in Mainpuri was the focal point of the Sunday’s phase as Samajwadi Party chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav made his assembly poll debut from the constituency.
Karhal seat recorded 65.10 % turnout which was the highest within the district that comprises four seats—Mainpuri, Bhongaon and Kisni apart from Karhal.
Among the 59 assembly constituencies that went to polls on Sunday, Mehroni in Lalitpur district recorded the highest voter turnout at 71% followed by 68.20% in Babina (Jhansi) and 67.98% in Jalesar (Etah).
As per the data available with the election commission , Lalitpur recorded the highest polling percentage 69.61% followed by Etah and Mahoba that recoded 65.70% and 64.56% voter turnout respectively.
Among the districts, the lowest poll percentage was recorded by Kanpur Nagar at only 56.14%. Farrukhabad and Jalaun happened to be the districts with the second and the third lowest voter turnout of 59.13% and 59.93% respectively.
“The voting started at 7am and continued till 6 pm and as per the information received from districts concerned the average voter turnout by 5 pm was recorded to be 57.58%,” chief electoral officer Ajay Kumar Shukla had said earlier in the day, adding that the final turnout figures were bound to go up as voters who were already in the queue even at 6 pm were allowed to cast their vote. The figures were updated later.
According to Shukla, as many as 52,043 eligible voters cast their vote through postal ballots
The 16 districts that went to polls in the third phase, biggest phase from the point of view of number of districts, were Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Kasganj, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur and Mahoba.
“There were 2.16 crore voters in the third phase and 99.9 lakh of them were women and 1060 were transgender,” Shukla said. He further said that of the total 627 contestants in the fray, 97 were women, 192 SC and one ST.
Claiming that the voting was done in a transparent, fair and peaceful manner, he said the commission ensured webcasting of 13,903 booths under the poll panel’s direct supervision. He said videography was also done of 1342 booths.
He also said ₹12.69 crore cash and 1.75 lakh litre of liquur was recovered in 16 districts from the date of notification till the ending of campaigning.
Over 905 companies of central paramilitary forces (CPMF) and state armed police, as well as over 117,000 civil police personnel, home guards, Prantiya Rakshak Dal (PRD) jawans and village guards were deployed in the poll-bound areas.
On the Mainpuri incident, additional director general (ADG) of police, Agra Zone, Rajeev Krishna, said: “The incident took place at about 400 metres away from the polling station in Avadh Nagar area of Mainpuri city when polling was about to end. The accused is a Samajwadi Party worker and has been arrested.”
“The injured BJP leader has been hospitalized and is under constant vigil. Police force has also been deployed in the area,” he added.
Among prominent political leaders who cast their votes are Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, Shivpal Singh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Congress leader Salman Khurshid, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh and UP minister Satish Mahana.
Meanwhile, an FIR was registered against Kanpur mayor Pramila Pandey after she took her mobile phone inside the polling booth at Hudson School, and clicked a selfie, a senior official said.
District magistrate Neha Sharma said the Kanpur Mayor had violated the rules of the election commission by revealing the name of the party she voted for.
