UP elections: 42 percent polling till late afternoon

After a slow start due to rain, polling for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections picked up rapidly with almost 42 percent of the over 1.70 crore electorate exercising their franchise till late afternoon. As the weather cleared up, people started coming out in large number to exercise their franchise. “By 3 PM, 41.96 percent polling was registered in 55 assembly seats spread over 10 districts,” Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha said. [caption id=“attachment_207447” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“PTI”]  [/caption] He said the last few hours of polling were crucial and with weather improving, people were coming out in large number to cast their vote. “The biggest problem was that of rain, but now good response from the electorate is coming. Turnout should be good,” Sinha said. Amdist complaints of EVM malfunctioning, 31 percent polling was recorded in Bahraich district. Sitapur, where people boycotted polling in Gularia village in Misrikh assembly seat to protest lack of development, registered 46.88 percent polling by 3 PM. Similarly in Gonda, which recorded 42 percent polling till 3 PM, nearly 800 voters boycotted poll process at booth number 34 in Mehnaun assembly seat to protest shifting of polling station three kilometres away from the village. Polling also picked up in in Faizabad where 50 percent electorate exercised their franchise till 3 PM as compared to 30 percent in the first four hours. Maximum 50 percent polling till 3 PM was recorded in Ayodhya, where a long queue of voters was witnessed at polling stations. Lowest poll percentage 35.38 percent was recorded in Balrampur district followed by 40.5 percent in Siddharth Nagar district. Initially, heavy rain in most of the assembly seats for which polling is being held played, spoilsport. In Basni Assembly seat in Siddharth Nagar, not a single vote was cast in the first two hours of polling due to heavy rains, officials said. Polling is being held in 10 districts – Sitapur, Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharth Nagar and Basti amidst tight security arrangements. PTI