Disappointing turnout in high-profile Lucknow

Lucknow: Despite months of voter awareness campaigns run by different organizations, the voter turnout in Lucknow on the fourth round on 30 April remained low but registered an increase over the dismal figure of 40 percent in 2009. An average of 59.06 percent polling was recorded in 14 Lok Sabha seats that went to poll today in Uttar Pradesh’s fourth phase.

Voting was held in 14 constituencies in the state even as the maximum day temperature touched 43 degree celsius in Lucknow and 42 degrees celsius in Sitapur and Rae Bareli. The average turnout in the state rose from 25 percent at 11 am to 37 percent at 1 pm and to 46 percent at 3 pm.

The constituencies that saw polling on Wednesday were Dhaurahra, Kanpur, Sitapur, Misrikh, Unnao, Lucknow, Mohanlalganj, Barabanki, Rae Bareli, Jhansi, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Fatehpur and Banda. Prominent politicians among the candidates in these constituencies are Sonia Gandhi, Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shriprakash Jaiswal, Jitin Prasad, Pradip Aditya Jain, Uma Bharti, PL Punia and Anu Tandon.

The polling percentage at midday at some key constituencies were Dhaurahra 44.2 percent, Sitapur 40 percent, Unnao 33 percent polling, Mohanlalganj 36 percent, Rae Bareli 30 percent, Kanpur 36 percent, Jhansi 44 percent, Banda 33 percent, Fatehpur 40 percent and Barabanki 39 percent.

The contest in Rae Bareli has Sonia Gandhi being opposed by BJP’s Ajay Agarwal, Trinamool Congress candidate Anju Singh, Aam Aadmi Party’s Archana Srivastava and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Pravesh Singh.

The absence of a formidable rival has made the task less difficult for Sonia even in the face of growing resentment against poor development of Rae Bareli and a general discontent against the Congress and UPA.

In Lucknow, however, Rajnath has formidable opposition in Rita Bahuguna Joshi of the Congress, Abhishek Mishra of the Samajwadi Party, Nakul Dubey of the BSP and Javed Jaferi of the AAP.

Having opted for Lucknow rather than Ghaziabad from where he won in 2009, Rajnath has been labouring hard for the past few weeks to seek support from different communities, groups of professionals and religious leaders. For the local BJP set-up he was a paradrop and for the initial few days, his campaign was a non-starter with incumbent MP Lalji Tandon loyalists staying away from the campaign. Interestingly, Narendra Modi has not campaigned in Lucknow though he visited Sidhauli in Mohanlalganj constituency — about 48 km from Lucknow — on 27 April.

Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Abhishek Mishra are sitting MLAs and Mishra is a minister in Akhilesh Yadav cabinet, while Nakul Dubey was a minister in the previous BSP regime. Javed Jaferi was a late entrant into the fray but managed to connect to a section of local population. The contest is tough and the outcome could be tricky for Rajnath.

Lucknow has been known for low voter turnout in Lok Sabha elections in the past and even in 2004, when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the BJP candidate, it was mere 36 percent. Over the last three months, the city has seen hectic activity by the election commission, district administration, educational institutions, business establishments and voluntary organizations to urge the people to come out and cast their vote on the polling day. Dozens of shops and business establishments have offered a discount to people who show their inked finger.

Prominent among those who cast their votes in Lucknow were state governor BL Joshi, BJP president and candidate from Lucknow Rajnath Singh, Congress candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi and BSP leader Mayawati.

Rows of enthusiastic young voters and burqa-clad women were seen at many places in Lucknow since morning. The queues reduced as the day progressed and temperature soared, but there was a sudden rush of voters in most localities in Lucknow around 4 pm.

Polling was generally peaceful in the state but there were complaints of errors in electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Lucknow. Minor altercations were reported from Krishnanagar, Jankipuram, Thakurganj, Kakori and cantonment areas of Lucknow.

The British High Commissioner to India James David Bevan was in Lucknow on Wednesday to see the polling exercise. During the day’s visit to Lucknow, he met Rajnath Singh, Rita Bahuguna Joshi and also went around several polling centres. Earlier in the day, he had also called on the state governor BL Joshi and Mayawati. Later in the day he went to Rae Bareli to see the polling in that VIP constituency.

Polling in Rae Bareli was peaceful and took place at a fast pace in the forenoon. Hectic campaigning for Sonia Gandhi by Priyanka Vadra till the last day is understood to be a sign of unease in the Congress.

Residents of Bilheni village in Rae Bareli staged a boycott of polling over the failure of construction of an approach road to the villagers. According to local reports, this has been a long-standing demand of the villagers but nothing has been done so far. A report from Hamirpur said residents of five villages boycotted the polls and not a single vote was cast.

A report from Sitapur said cases under different sections had been registered against SP MLA Rampal Yadav for obstructing staff on poll duty. It is learnt that the legislator had clashed with a paramilitary personnel near a polling centre in Biswan area. Large turnout was reported in most polling stations in Kanpur also, where Murli Manohar Joshi faces Union minister Jaiswal.

In all there are 233 in the fray with an electorate of 2.46 crore. According to EC sources, more than 25,000 polling centres had been set up across the 14 constituencies.

The next round of voting will take place on 7 May in 15 constituencies in east UP that include Amethi, Sultanpur, Faizabad and Allahabad.