Heavy turnout marks phase one polling in UP

Phase one of polling Uttar Pradesh in ten constituencies on today saw a top Army General and a top police officer facing the rough and tumble of electoral politics, even as a large turnout marked the day of polling. While for former Army Chief Gen (retired) VK Singh, it was a first-hand “experience” of the existence of bogus voters in Ghaziabad, for the former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh in Baghpat, it was a taste of party rivalry that left him manhandled. [caption id=“attachment_1266827” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. PTI [/caption] Both are Bharatiya Janata Party candidates and were among 146 candidates in the fray for 10 seats that saw brisk polling in the early hours, followed by a lull, and then a huge turnout as the day drew to a close. The constituencies were Saharanpur, Bijnore, Baghpat, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahr and Aligarh, with a total electorate of 1.74 crores. All these areas are adjoining to or surround the epicentre of the gruesome riots that shook the region last August-September. According to Election Commission sources, the overall polling in the state’s constituencies was at least 62 percent, with the highest figure from Bijnore (68), followed by Saharanpur (67), Muzaffarnagar, Kairana (66), GB Nagar (58), Ghaziabad, Baghpat (57), Bulandshahr (56), Aligarh, Meerut (55). The Congress is contesting 6 seats and its alliance partner RLD 4 of the ten seats, while the BJP, SP and BSP have fielded candidates on 10 seats each. In Ghaziabad, Gen Singh told mediapersons that there were 2.6 lakh “fake voters in the electors’ list of Ghaziabad constituency” adding that he had lodged a complaint with the Election Commission seeking early correction. He alleged that there were several fake voters who are of the same name and parentage but were listed with separate voter ids. Others in the fray against him are Raj Babbar of the Congress and Shazia Ilmi of Aam Aadmi party. In nearby Baghpat, former Mumbai police chief Satyapal Singh’s motorcade was attacked when he was proceeding to check allegations of bogus voting in Malakpur village in Baghpat constituency. His car was attacked by a mob and its windows were shattered in the attack. Even Singh received injuries when he tried to resist the attack in which supporters of the BJP and Rahtriya Lok Dal (RLD) clashed with each other. Singh is facing RLD chief Ajit Singh in the latter’s family borough. Other prominent candidates in the ten constituencies are Jayaprada (RLD, Bijnore), Naghma (Congress, Meerut), Narendra Bhati (Samajwadi Party, GB Nagar), Imran Masood (Congress, Saharanpur), Hukum Singh (BJP, Kairana) and Kadir Rana (BSP, Muzaffarnagar). While Hukum Singh and Rana are among those charged with inciting riots, Masood was jailed a few days ago for allegedly giving a hate speech against Modi. Bhati had shot into limelight when he had famously claimed that he was the one responsible for the sudden transfer of Durga Nagpal, a young IAS officer after she had reportedly objected to an illegal construction in GB Nagar last year. It had been revealed later that she had been running a campaign against illegal mining in the area which had hurt the interests of many influential persons. The riots in Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and adjoining villages last August had caused a great upheaval with more than 40,000 people being displaced and sheltered in makeshift camps. The riots had caused a schism between the Jats and Muslims, even though the two communities had a close relationship extending to marriages, for decades. The riots segregated them as Hindus and Muslims, and soon the Gurjars and Dalits were also drawn on the side of the Hindu Jats. As the BJP has been trying to garner the support of the Hindu groups, there has been an attempt on part of the BSP to appear as the benefactor of the Muslims as the latter had been blaming the SP government for not coming to their rescue during the violence that lasted for nearly three weeks. Attempts at polarization were made by the BJP’s Amit Shah in his appeal to Jats to use the election as an opportunity to “avenge” their insult, and also by SP’s Mohammad Azam Khan, who made a similar “revenge” appeal to Muslims besides reminding voters that those who liberated Indian territory in the Kargil conflict were “not Hindu, but Muslim soldiers.” For the Congress, difficulties abound in many constituencies. In GB Nagar, its candidate Ramesh Tomar quit the party and joined BJP even after being nominated the candidate, leaving the Congress unrepresented in the most unprecedented event of its kind. In Meerut, party candidate Naghma faced the non-cooperation of local Congress workers after an incident involving a party office bearer. Congress candidate from Saharanpur Imran Masood was seen talking to a group which included small children, that Modi would be cut into pieces if he tried to turn Saharanpur into Gujarat. In Ghaziabad, Raj Babbar was widely termed an outsider even though Gen (retired) VK Singh and Shazia Ilmi were outsiders too. Another loser was the RLD which had thrived on the Jat-Muslim unity but the party was seen as keeping away during the Jats’ hour of need. Accordingly, things are believed to be difficult for the SP and the RLD, while the contest may be between BSP and BJP for most of the seats. The RLD had, in a bid to attract voters’ interest, accepted Jayaprada and Amar Singh into its fold and fielded both as candidates, but the traditional RLD voters have taken kindly to this initiative. In Baghpat, Ajit Singh moved from one extreme of urging voters to safeguard his honour, to the other of claiming that Modi should be “dumped into the sea.” In the 2009 election, five seats had gone to the BSP (Muzaffarnagar, GB Nagar, Aligarh, Saharanpur and Kairana) followed by two each for BJP (Meerut, Ghaziabad) and RLD (Bijnore, Baghpat) and one for the SP (Bulandshahr.) According to Election Commission sources, an average 26 percent polling had been recorded till half-way of the 11hours of scheduled voting (from 7 am to 6 pm), and there was a sudden surge at places like Ghaziabad, GB Nagar (Noida and Greater Noida) and Muzaffarnagar. A heavy turnout in the early hours indicated a willingness of the voters to register their choice for change or continuity, and that will be known on 16 May.