Assembly elections: 61.06% turnout in UP, 59.51% in Uttarakhand, and 77.94% in Goa

New Delhi, February 14, 2022

About 61.06 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise in the 55 constituencies that went to the polls in the second phase of polling in the elections to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly today.

In Uttarakhand and Goa, which voted in a single phase to choose new assemblies, the voting percentages were 59.51 and 77.94, respectively, Election Commission of India (ECI) sources said.

The 55 constituencies that voted in Uttar Pradesh today are spread across nine districts.

According to the ECI data, in Uttar Pradesh, 66.15% of the votes had been cast in Amroha district, 58.82% in Bareilly, 62.11% in Bijnor, 58.83% in Badaun, 64.56% in Moradabad, 62.31% in Rampur, 56.88% in Sambhal, 67.52% in Sahranpur and 55.20% in Shahjahanpur.

In Uttarakhand, Almora district registered 50.65%, Bageshwar 57.83%, Chamoli 59.28%, Champawat 56.97%, Dehradun 52.93%, Haridwar 68.37%, Nainital 63.12%, Pauri Garhwal 51.93%, Pithoragarh 57.49%, Rudraprayag 60.36%, Tehri Garhwal 52.66%, Udham Singh Nagar 65.13%, and Uttarkashi district registered 65.55%.

In Goa, North Goa registered 79.45% while South Goa recorded 76.92% voting.

Voting began in all three states at 7 am amidst tight security and ended at 6 pm. The final voting figures may be slightly higher once all the data from remote polling stations is received.

The first of the seven phases of polling in Uttar Pradesh was held on February 10, when more than 60 per cent voting was recorded.

The remaining phases of polling in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled to be held on February 20, 23 and 27 and March 3 and 7.

Punjab will have single-phase polling on February 20, while Manipur will vote in two phases on February 28 and March 5 to elect its new assembly.

Counting of votes in all five states will be held on March 10.

In Uttar Pradesh, there were 586 candidates, including 63 women, in the fray in the 55 constituencies that went to the polls today. These constituencies had a total electorate of 2.02 crore voters.

In the last assembly elections in 2017, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 38 of these 55 seats, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) had got 15 seats and the Congress two seats. he Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) did not win any seat in this region in 2017.

A prominent contestant in this phase is Mohammed Azam Khan, who is the SP candidate from Rampur. Azam Khan is contesting the elections from jail and his entire campaign has been run by his wife Tanzeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam, who is contesting the neighbouring Suar seat.

The SP is banking on sympathy for the jailed leader and his family to ensure success on Rampur and Suar seats.

BJP's Suresh Khanna is seeking his ninth term as legislator from Shahjahanpur. He has been winning polls since 1989.

In Goa, polling was held for all 40 Assembly seats, with as many as 301 candidates, including 26 women, in the fray. There are a total of 11.57 voters in the state.

The ruling BJP, which has been in power in the coastal state since 2012, is aiming for a hat-trick.

The main parties in the fray are the ruling BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), NCP, and the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), among others.

The BJP is contesting all 40 seats in the state for the first time, while the Congress has fielded 37 candidates. AAP, Trinamool, MGP have fielded 39, 26, 13 candidates, respectively.

The BJP and the AAP went to the polls on their own, while the Congress had tied up with the Goa Forward party. Similarly, the MGP contested the elections in alliance with the TMC.

According to Chief Electoral Officer Kunal, 20,000 security personnel were posted in Goa to maintain law and order during the polling held at 1600 polling stations.

In Uttarakhand, polling was conducted for all 70 assembly seats today. There were more than 82 lakh voters who decided the political fate of 632 candidates. A total of 11,697 booths had been set up.

Prominent candidates of the ruling BJP in the fray included Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, his cabinet colleagues Dhan Singh Rawat, Satpal Maharaj, Yatishwarananda, Subodh Uniyal, Ganesh Joshi, Rekha Arya and state BJP president Madan Kaushik. Former Uttarakhand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay is trying his luck this time on a BJP ticket.

On the Congress ticket, former chief minister Harish Rawat, former minister Yashpal Arya, state unit president Ganesh Godiyal and Leader of Opposition in the fourth assembly Pritam Singh are trying their luck.

As far as the electoral history of the state is concerned, no political party has been able to return to power for the second time in a row.

However, speaking to IANS, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014, many such myths have been busted in the country and, like Assam and Haryana, the BJP is going to form the government for the second consecutive time in Uttarakhand.

In the hill state, the main contest is between the ruling BJP and the principal Opposition Congress, but in many seats, the BSP, Aam Aadmi Party and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) are also seen in a position to make the electoral contest triangular.

The UKD, the party which had initiated and led the struggle for formation of a separate hill state from Uttar Pradesh, is hoping to revive its political fortunes in this year's assembly polls.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP won 57 of the 70 seats. Congress won 11 and two independents also got elected.

NNN