62.30% polling in UP in second phase

| | Lucknow
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62.30% polling in UP in second phase

Friday, 19 April 2019 | PNS | Lucknow

Amid incidents of poll code violation and boycott, 62.30 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in eight Lok Sabha constituencies which went to polls in the second phase in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.

The UP Chief Electoral Officer said that at the end of voting at 6 pm, the poll percentage was 62.10 in Nagina, 68.77 in Amroha, 62.14 in Bulandshahar, 62.80 in Aligarh, 61.25 in Hathras, 60.56 in Mathura, 59.60 in Agra and 61.16 in Fatehpur Sikri.

In the 2014 general elections, these eight Lok Sabha seats had recorded an average polling of 61.93 per cent, indicating a marginal increase in this election.

The fates of 85 candidates in the fray in the second phase have now been sealed in electronic voting machines (EVMs). Prominent candidates in this phase were Bollywood actor-turned-politician Hema Malini from Mathura, UP Congress chief and Bollywood actor Raj Babbar from Fatehpur Sikri and UP minister SP Singh Baghel from Agra (Reserved) seats.

The polling commenced at a rather dull note at 7 am with reports of EVM malfunctioning at several places but two hours later, polling picked up. Polling percentage was recorded at 10.76 at 9 am, 24.31 at 11 am, 38.94 at 1 pm, 50.39 at 3 pm and 58.30 at 5 pm.

In the first phase, around 63.89 per cent polling was recorded but it was low by around 3 per cent compared to 2014 elections.

A total of 1,41,94,132 voters — 76.36 lakh males, 65.56 lakh females and 771 from third gender — were eligible to cast their votes in 16,163 booths to decide the fate of 85 candidates.

Of these candidates, 14 have heinous crime cases against them while 41 are crorepatis.

As per reports, BJP candidate from Bulandshahr Dr Bhola Singh was confined to his house after being charged with violation of poll code by seeking vote inside a polling booth. He was released only after polling ended at 6 pm.

Singh was seen touching the feet of voters inside booths to seek their support after which the Election Commission ordered his detention on the report of district returning officer Abhay Singh.

BJP candidate from Amroha, Kanwar Singh Tanwar, and BJP MLA from Hasanpur, Mahendra Singh, along with Congress candidate Danish Ali alleged that fake votes were cast by women from a minority community wearing ‘burqa’. The candidates even alleged that a youth wearing ‘burqa’ was nabbed by security personnel at Nagla Sadat village.

Earlier, during the first phase of polls, Muzaffarnagar BJP candidate Sanjeev Baliyan too had alleged fake voting by burqa-clad persons but the Election Commission officials rejected the charges.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission had to face embarrassment when villagers of Mangoli Kala in Fatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha constituency boycotted polling over lack of adequate irrigation facilities in the village. Similarly about 2,000 voters of two villages — Bijauna and Sikhram in the Iglas Assembly segment of Aligarh Lok Sabha constituency — also boycott the polls to protest lack of development.

In Hathras, a driver of a polling party vehicle died in Sikandrarau Assembly segment after suffering a heart attack.       

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