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Uttar Pradesh elections: At least 55% turnout in sixth phase
Uttar Pradesh polls 2022: A total of 676 candidates, including chief minister and BJP leader Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban seat, were in the fray in this penultimate phase.
LUCKNOW: The sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on Thursday saw slightly over 55% voting for 57 seats spread across 10 eastern UP districts, falling behind the 56.47% turnout for these constituencies in 2017.
To be sure, turnout figures are often updated the following day.
A total of 676 candidates, including chief minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban seat, are in the fray in the penultimate phase. Other prominent faces contesting the poll in this phase include state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu from Tamkuhi Raj and Swami Prasad Maurya, who was a minister in the Adityanath government before he quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just ahead of the elections to join the Samajwadi Party, contested from Fazilnagar.
According to tentative figures updated at 7 pm, 55.79% polling was recorded in the 57 seats. The final tally will be released by the poll authorities later, state officials said. Around 21.5 million people were eligible to vote in this phase.
With the conclusion of the sixth phase, voting for 349 of the total 403 assembly seats has been completed, while the remaining 54 seats, all in eastern UP, will be held in the final phase on March 7. The results will be announced on March 10.
The 10 districts where polling was held on Thursday were Ambedkarnagar, Balrampur, Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria and Ballia.
In the 2017 assembly polls, the BJP had won 46 of the 57 seats.
According to state officials, polling started at slow pace in the morning at booths located on India-Nepal borders in Balrampur, Siddharthnagar and Maharajganj districts and also in the distant Ballia and Ambedkarnagar. It, however, picked up in the afternoon, officials added.
In Ghughli area of Maharajganj district, as well as in Bhadwar village in Balarampur district, villagers boycotted voting over issues of road, water supply and hospital.
Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer (CEO) Ajay Kumar Shukla said polling commenced at 7 am and lasted till 7 pm while adding that no untoward incident was reported from any district. Elaborate security arrangements were made by the election commission, he said.
Additional CEO BDR Tiwari said faults in the electronic voting machines and voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPATs) were reported from some polling stations and they were replaced.
“The EC received about 300 complaints during the polling in the 57 assembly constituencies and all of them were disposed of immediately,” he said.
Those who cast their votes in on Thursday morning included CM Adityanath, who is also contesting his first assembly poll, state minister Satish Dwivedi, minister Upendra Tiwari, leader of opposition Ram Govind Chowdhury, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, and former minister Narad Rai.
