49 per cent polling in Uttarakhand assembly elections

New Delhi, Feb 21 (UNI) Around 49 per cent polling was registered in the elections to 69 out of 70 assembly seats of Uttarakhand, which passed off peacefully today.

Briefing reporters here, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy said the elections were held for 69 assembly constituencies as the elections to the Bajpur seat was countermanded following the death of the Congress candidate. Election to that seat will be held on March 25 for which a notification will be issued on February 23.

He said though the voting process was incident-free the polling percentage was moderate at around 49 per cent which could go up to 55 per cent.

He said a total of 806 candidates were in the fray in the State, but in today's election the fate of 785 candidates was sealed in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

A total of 54 women candidates were in the election arena to try their electoral luck. The Tehri assembly seat was contested by the highest number of ten candidates. A total of 12247 EVMs were used for conducting the polls today. The total requirement of EVMs for the state was placed at 12479 .

He said just four EVMs were replaced as they were not functioning properly.

UNI