28% voting in first five hours in first phase of UP Assembly elections

About 28.35 per cent of the 1.72 crore electors had exercised their franchise in the first five hours as 55 constituencies went to the polls today amidst tight security in the first round of polling in the seven-phase elections to choose a new 403-member legislative assembly in Uttar Pradesh.

 

Voting, which began at 0800 hours and is due to end at 1700 hours, remained sluggish in the early hours, thanks to rains and the cold weather, which discouraged many people from venturing out.

 

Election officials were, however, hopeful that polling would pick up pace in the later hours of the day.

 

The 55 constituencies are spread over 10 districts -- Sitapur, Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkarnagar, Bahriach, Shrawasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharthnagar and Basti.

 

The second phase of polling for 59 seats will be on February 11, third phase ( 56 seats) on Feruary 15, fourth phase ( 56 seats) on February 19, fifth phase (49 seats) on February 23, sixth phase (68 seats) and last phase (60 seats) on March 3.

 

Counting of votes will be held on March 6 in UP as well as in Punjab, Manipur and Uttarakhand, where polling is already over and Goa, where polling is slated for March 3.

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In all, 17180649 voters, including 9356290 men and 7824013 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in today's polling. A total of 862 candidates are in the fray, including 65 women.

 

The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party are contesting all 55 seats that went to the polls today. The Congress has fielded candidates in 54 constituencies, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 21 and the Samajwadi Party in 25. There are as many as 652 independents and others in the contest.

 

The Election Commission has deployed 26740 electronic voting machines (EVMs) in 18108 polling stations in today''s exercise.

 

Prominent candidates in the fray today include state Finance Minister Lalji Verma, former Assembly Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey (SP) and former Deputy Speaker Aamar Rizvi (Congress). 

 

NNN

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