UP polls: Over 57 per cent voting till 5 pm

Lucknow, Feb 10: Amid reports of technical snag in EVMs at some places, polling has gone on peacefully in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday with an average of over 58 per cent votes being cast till 5pm, Election Commission officials said.

The first phase of polling, which started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm, is being held in 58 assembly seats spread across 11 districts in the western part of the state. "An average 57.79% per cent polling was witnessed in UP till 5 pm," an Election Commission official said.

Additional Chief Election Officer (ACEO) BD Ram Tiwari said polling is going on peacefully. "There were reports of a technical error in EVMs at some places. Those EVMs are being replaced," he said. On Samajwadi Party's allegation that poor voters were not allowed to exercise their franchise in Dundukheda village in the Kairana assembly constituency, Tiwari said the District Magistrate concerned has been asked to look into the matter.

Till 3 pm, Agra recorded 47.53 per cent polling, Aligarh 45.89 per cent, Baghpat 50.21 per cent, Bulandshahr 50.81 per cent, Gautam Buddh Nagar 48.29 per cent, Ghaziabad 44.88 per cent, Hapur 51.67 per cent, Mathura 49.17 per cent, Meerut 47.86 cent Muzaffarnagar 52.23 per cent and Shamli 53.13 per cent, an EC report said. As many as 623 candidates, including 73 women, are in the fray in 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.

State ministers whose fate will be decided in the first phase of voting, include Shrikant Sharma, Suresh Rana, Sandeep Singh, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Atul Garg and Chowdhury Lakshmi Narain. Campaigning in the constituencies going to vote in the first round of the seven-phase election in the politically crucial state ended had on Tuesday evening. Leading the campaign for the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pitched for a double-engine government for fast-paced development while attacking the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) combine.

While Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tried to put the spotlight back on the alleged "exodus" of Hindus from Kairana before 2017, SP president Akhilesh Yadav claimed that people have made up their mind to vote out the BJP from power. The SP-RLD alliance has centred its electioneering on farmers' issues and has attacked Yogi Adityanath over poll promises.

BSP chief Mayawati, who started the poll campaigning late, reminded the people of her government's track record on law and order in the past. The Congress under the leadership of its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has generated interest among the people as seen in door-to-door campaigns. The first phase of polling covers the Jat-dominated belt of western UP from where farmers had participated actively in the stir against the Centre's three agri laws in the national capital. In 2017, the BJP had bagged 53 of the 58 seats in the region, while the Samajwadi Party and the BSP had got two seats each. One seat had gone to the Rashtriya Lok Dal. PTI