Lok Sabha Elections 2019: In phase 6, Allahabad’s 50.58% turnout lowest in Uttar Pradesh

In comparison to the voting pattern in 2014, Allahabad witnessed a 2.86% drop in voter turnout in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The Allahabad parliamentary constituency recorded 50.58% voting percentage, the lowest among all the 14 seats which went to polls in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election on Sunday, data made available by the Election Commission said.

Voters queue at a polling station to cast their votes at Rampur Village in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh on May 12, 2019, for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections. (AFP)

Phulpur parliamentary constituency witnessed the second lowest voter turnout of the sixth phase at 51.38%.

Pratapgarh and Machhlishahar jointly shared the fifth lowest voter turnout of this phase at 53.20%, reports issued by the Election Commission said.

In comparison to the voting pattern in 2014, Allahabad witnessed a 2.86% drop in voter turnout. Phulpur and Pratapgarh constituencies registered a slight rise in turnout by 1.22% and 0.71% respectively.

In 2014, the voting percentage in the three constituencies was Allahabad (53.44%), Phulpur (50.16%) and Pratapgarh (52.49%).

Polling started slowly on Sunday in all these three parliamentary constituencies in Prayagraj division.

Polling trends made available by election officials showed 7.98% votes were cast in first hour till 8am in Allahabad constituency, 9.14% in Phulpur constituency and 8.23% in Pratapgarh constituency. However, polling at 11am swelled to 20% in Allahabad, 18.30% in Phulpur and 23.13% in Pratapgarh.

As the mercury touched 44.8 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the percentage of votes cast till 1pm in Allahabad was at 32.38%, while 29.20% votes were cast in Phulpur and 34.39% in Pratapgarh at the same time.

By 3pm, 39.12% votes were cast in Allahabad, 36.80% in Phulpur and 43.80% in Pratapgarh, Election Commission records revealed.

Technical snags in EVMs were reported at some polling booths in Pratapgarh, which included the primary school, Behdaul Khurd, in the Raniganj assembly segment.

In Allahabad constituency, non-functional EVM were reported at booth numbers 132 and 133 in Koraon assembly segment, besides at booth numbers 128 and 129 in Phaphamau assembly segment. Polling officials changed all the faulty EVMs.

There were reports of police using mild force to disperse a crowd at the polling booth in Radha Raman Inter College, Daraganj, in Allahabad constituency on Sunday afternoon.

District election officer/district magistrate, Prayagraj, Bhanu Chand Goswami said polling in Allahabad and Phulpur passed off peacefully with no untoward incident reported from any of the polling booths.

A total of 14 candidates each were in the fray in Allahabad and Phulpur. Eight candidates contested on the Pratapgarh seat.

Among all the 14 constituencies which went to poll with 2,57,71,245 voters in the sixth phase on Sunday, Phulpur had the maximum number of 20,06,228 voters while Pratapgarh has the lowest number of 17,05,457 voters.