UP clocks 65% polling in phase I

Uttar Pradesh clocked about 65% polling in the 10 western UP constituencies, where polling for the 16th Lok Sabha was held today in first phase voting in the state.

The voting percentage is better than 51% voting recorded in these constituencies spread over 11 districts in 2009 Lok Sabha polling. In 2012 assembly poll, these areas had reported about 62% polling.

Saharanpur reported the maximum polling%age at 73.43%, followed by Kairana 69.40% and Muzaffarnagar 68.27%.

The lowest polling%age was recorded in Aligarh at 61.60%, according to the UP Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) press communique.

Earlier in the day, there had been reports about the malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in some booths, which were swiftly replaced.

Satyapal Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Baghpat parliamentary constituency, was allegedly beaten up by Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) activists in a polling booth when he arrived there over complaints of rigging. His aides were also wounded and his vehicle damaged. The ex-Mumbai Police commissioner is contesting against RLD president Ajit Singh.

The collage of candidates in fray for these 10 seats spread over 11 districts feature a retired army chief, a former top cop, actor-turned politicians and with those having a tainted past.

Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party had won the maximum 5 seats in these constituencies during 2009 Lok Sabha poll, followed by BJP (2), RLD (2) and Samajwadi Party (1). Congress had drawn a nil.

About 17 million electorates would decide the fate of 146 candidates belonging to different parties. The constituencies are Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Kairana, Aligarh, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Gautambudh Nagar, Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr.

The western UP region had witnessed communal riots last year, in which several lives were lost. The region has a sizeable Muslim population and they can influence the outcome of results with their voting pattern.

In the aftermath of the riots, there was palpable anger amongst the community over the perceptible failure of the Akhilesh Yadav led state government in controlling violence. The electorate is likely to get polarised on community lines and BJP is projected to be the major beneficiary in this phase.

A total of 8,435 polling centres and 16,788 polling stations have been set up in these constituencies to facilitate voting.

The prominent candidates in fray include former army chief General V K Singh (Ghaziabad), actor turned politicians Raj Babbar (Ghaziabad), Jaya Prada (Bijnore), Nagma (Meerut), AAP founding member Shazia Ilmi (Ghaziabad) etc.

UP would witness polling in 6 phases on April 10 (10 seats), April 17 (11 seats), April 24 (12 seats), April 30 (14 seats), May 7 (15 seats) and May 12 (18 seats). Lucknow and Varanasi constituencies would see polling on April 30 and May 12 respectively.