About 58% voter turnout was recorded till 5 p.m. on Thursday in Uttar Pradesh, where polling was held across 58 assembly constituencies in 11 districts. Polling closed at 6 p.m. but those already in queue were allowed to vote, Election Commission officials said. There were reports of technical snags in EVMs at some places, but voting was peaceful, they added.
Additional Chief Election Officer (ACEO) B.D. Ram Tiwari said, “There were reports of a technical error in EVMs at some places.” Those EVMs were replaced as the reports came in, he added.
Till 5 pm, Agra recorded 56.61% polling, Aligarh 57.25%, Baghpat 61.35%, Bulandshahr 60.52%, Gautam Buddh Nagar 54.77%, Ghaziabad 54.77%, Hapur 60.50%, Mathura 58.51%, Meerut 58.52% , Muzaffarnagar 62.14% and Shamli 61.78%, an EC report said.
Voters in Mathura braved a dense fog in the morning when the polling began but visibility improved as the day progressed.
As many as 623 candidates, including 73 women, are in the fray for the first phase, and around 2.28 crore voters, including 1.24 crore men and 1.04 women besides others, are eligible to cast their franchise, state EC officials said.
