Polling gets underway in 67 Assembly constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh in the second of seven phases and in 69 Assembly seats in Uttarakhand.
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Uttar Pradesh’s 67 Assembly constituencies record 65.5% turnout till 5 pm, according to the Election Commission. Voting is still on.
Uttarakhand’s 13 districts record a 68% turnout by 5 pm. Uttarkashi district records highest turnout of 73%, followed by Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts with 70% each. The hill district of Almora reports the lowest polling percentage at 52%
By 3 pm the average polling in 13 Uttarakhand districts stands at 53%. Plain districts of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar witness high turnout with 62% and 60% respectively. At 43%, the hill district of Almora reports the lowest polling percentage.
Over 45% turnout has been recorded till 2 pm in western Uttar Pradesh figuring in the second phase polling.
Official sources say polling is going on at a brisk pace and there is no report of any untoward incident from anywhere.
“We are keeping a close watch on the situation. Polling is going on peacefully at all polling stations,” U.P. Chief Electoral Officer T. Venkatesh said.
By 1 pm, the Uttarakhand witnessed an average polling on 40%. While Haridwar with 47% polling had the highest polling percentage by the afternoon, at 33% Almora district witnessed the lowest polling.
The footfall is maximum in the plain areas. In hill areas, especially in snow-bound villages, the footfall is low.
After a slow start on the poll day, the poll percentage in Uttarakhand reached 25%. With the temperature getting warmer the poll booths across the State are witnessing an increase in the footfall.
Till 11 am, Haridwar district witnessed highest polling percentage of 28%. The lowest voting percentage of 20% was witnessed in Pauri and Almora districts.
Polling begins on a slow start due to low temperatures across the State. By the end of the first hour, the poll percentage remained under 7%.
In the first hour the lowest turnout – 3% – was witnessed in Champawat, and the highest turnout of 7% was witnessed in the districts including Almora and Udham Singh Nagar.
Chief Minister Harish Rawat will offer prayers before casting his vote, today. Mr Rawat is contesting from two seats – Haridwar Rural in Haridwar district, and Kichha in Udham Singh Nagar district.
While the Chief Minister hails from the Kumaon hills, he chose to contest the plain seats. By his own admission, Mr. Rawat chose the seats to attract votes for the Congress in the 11 seats in Haridwar district and in the nine seats in Udham Singh Nagar district.
About 74 lakh electors will cast votes for 628 candidates today. The polls will be conducted on 69 of the 70 seats, since the polls on the Karnaprayag seat have been postponed to March 9.
While there are 10,685 poll booths across the State, 458 booths have been set up in snow covered regions where, the difficult terrain makes the setting up of a poll booth a challenge for the election commission teams.
In the absence of any third forces the main contest is between the Congress and the BJP. However, the BSP is a challenge, especially for the Congress, in the 20 seats of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts.
Polling began this morning in 67 Assembly constituencies spread over 11 districts of western Uttar Pradesh figuring in the second phase of voting.
The districts where polling is on amid tight security arrangements are Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun.
14,771 polling centres and 23,693 polling stations have been set up in the districts of Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun and elaborate security arrangements made to ensure free amd fair polling, election officials said.
The campaign ended on Monday evening for the 67 constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh, where voting will be held on Wednesday. The districts going to the polls in this phase include Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun.
BSP had bagged 18 seats last time, BJP 10, Congress three and others two.
Prominent contestants
Prominent contestants include controversial SP minister Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam, who are contesting from Rampur and Swar seats respectively, Saif Ali Naqvi, son of former Congress MP Zafar Ali Naqvi, former central Minister Jitin Prasada from Tilhar (Shahjahanpur), BJP Legislature Party leader Suresh Kumar Khanna from Shahjahanpur city and State Minister Mehboob Ali from Amroha.
In peaceful first phase, 64% polling recorded in U.P.
A turnout of 64.22% was reported in the largely incident-free first phase of polling on Saturday for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
The Election Commission did not give the figures of voter turnout in the corresponding seats in 2012, but said the percentage recorded was higher than the 58.62% overall turnout recorded in the State then.
In the hands of the rebels
Independents hold the key in 12-15 Assembly constituencies in the hill State of Uttarakhand where old rivals Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are battling it out for 69 seats.
For the Congress, it is a battle to retain power in one of the only half dozen States where it is now ruling. The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to wrest power in Uttarakhand which has not returned any party with a clear majority in the last two elections.
It’s Rawat vs Modi in Uttarakhand
Several leaders in the BJP have made a claim for the Chief Minister’s post. On the contrary, in the Congress, the campaign has been a one-man show centred on Mr. Rawat, the party’s chief ministerial candidate.