Assembly polls: 51.93% turnout in UP till 3 pm, 49.24% in Uttarakhand, 60.18% in Goa

New Delhi, February 14, 2022

About 51.93 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise by 3 pm in 55 constituences in the second phase of polling in the elections to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly today.

Election Commission sources 51.93% of the voters had cast their ballot in Uttarakhand and 60.18% in Goa in that period.

Polling for the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly and to the 40-member Goa assembly is being held in a single phase today.

According to the Election Commission data, in Uttar Pradesh, 60% of the votes had been cast in Amroha district, 49.84% in Bareilly, 51.81% in Bijnor, 47.69% in Badaun, 55.62% in Moradabad, 52.63% in Rampur, 56.56% in Saharanpur, 49.11 in Sambhal and 46.79% in Shahjahanpur till 3 pm.

In Uttarakhand, Almora district registered 43.17 per cent, Bageshwar 46.64 per cent, Chamoli 48.11 per cent, Champawat 47.64 per cent, Dehradun 45.56 per cent, Haridwar 54.40 per cent, Nainital 52.36 per cent, Pauri Garhwal 43.94 per cent, Pithoragarh 45.50 per cent, Rudraprayag 50.23 per cent, Tehri Garhwal 44.74 per cent, Udham Singh Nagar 53.30 per cent and Uttarkashi district registered 56.24 per cent voting till 3 p.m.

In Goa, North Goa registered 60.02 per cent while South Goa registered 60.32 per cent voting till 3 p.m.

Voting began in all three states at 7 am amidst tight security and will continue till 6 pm.

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 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.

Polling, which began at 0700 hours in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa, will end at 1800 hours.

In Uttar Pradesh, there are 586 candidates, including 63 women, in the fray in the 55 constituencies in the nine districts that went to the polls today. Their political fate will be decided by nearly 2.02 crore voters.

The nine districts where polling is being held are Saharanpur, Bijnore, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Sambhal, Badaun and Shahjahanpur.

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.

Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla has said that adequate steps have been taken to ensure free, fair and peaceful voting.

"Voting on 23,404 booths, under 12,544 polling centres, is taking place between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.," he said.

In Goa, polling is being 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 in all 40 state seats 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 are going into the polls on their own, while the Congress has tied up with the Goa Forward party. Similarly, the MGP is contesting the elections in alliance with the TMC.

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

In Uttarakhand, polling is being held for all 70 assembly seats today. There are more than 82 lakh voters who will decide the political fate of 632 candidates. A total of 11,697 booths have been set up.

Prominent candidates of the ruling BJP in the fray include 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 70 seats. Congress won 11 and two independents also got elected.

NNN