Lucknow, May 4 (PTI) A voter turnout of over 45 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the first phase of the urban local body elections in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
The voting commenced at 7 am and ended at 6 pm.
According to the State Election Commission (SEC), Varanasi recorded a polling percentage of 38.89, Lucknow 35.42 and Prayagraj 30.32.
A polling percentage of 52.59 was recorded in the first phase of the 2017 urban local body elections. The polls were held in three phases in 2017 and the overall polling percentage was 53.
Voters in 37 districts exercised their franchise on Thursday to elect 7,593 representatives, including 10 mayors and 820 corporators, the SEC said.
The districts where mayoral elections were held in the first phase are Saharanpur, Agra, Moradabad, Firozabad, Mathura, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Varanasi.
More than 2.40 crore people were eligible to vote in the first phase, the officials said.
In the first phase, polling was held for 103 posts of nagar palika parishad chairperson, 2,740 nagar palika parishad members, 275 nagar panchayat chairpersons and 3,645 nagar panchayat members.
A total of 44,232 candidates were in the fray.
SEC officials said 85 representatives, including 10 corporators, were elected unopposed.
These elections will pose a key test for the parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is the Lucknow MP, cast his vote at a booth in Gomti Nagar here. Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, former deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma and BSP chief Mayawati also cast their votes in Lucknow.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya voted in Prayagraj.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who cast his vote in Gorakhpur, was the first voter at his booth at Gorakhnath Kanya Prathmik Vidyalaya near Jhulelal. He reached the booth at 7.01 am.
Talking to reporters in Gorakhpur, Adityanath said, “The weather is pleasant in May. I think it is God’s blessing so that people can elect a good urban government and cast their votes. The State Election Commission has made all the necessary arrangements to conduct the elections. I appeal to all to cast their votes.” “Yaad rahe, pehle matdaan, phir jalpaan (vote first, breakfast later),” he said, using a catchphrase given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls last year.
After casting his vote, Adityanath started campaigning for the second phase of the elections, voting for which will be held on May 11. He campaigned in Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Siddharthnagar and Basti.
Speaking to reporters after casting her vote at a school at Mall Avenue here, Mayawati said, “Our party is contesting the polls alone. I hope that my party will get a good response and the results will be good.” On reports of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines at some places in Lucknow, District Magistrate Suryapal Gangwar said all such EVMs were replaced.
In Mainpuri, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Virendra Kumar Mittal, who was the returning officer of Nagar Panchayat Jyoti Khudia, died due to a suspected heart attack, Additional District Magistrate Ramji Misra told PTI.
In Rampur, senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and his former MLA son Abdullah Azam Khan could not cast their votes due to the removal of their names from the voters’ list.
Azam’s wife Tazeen Fatma and the family of his elder son Adeeb Azam Khan cast their votes.
Earlier, Special Director General, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said the polling is going on peacefully in the state and there has been “no report” of any untoward incident anywhere.
Wherever there were reports of problems in EVMs, they were changed, he said.
However, in Maharajganj, supporters of a BJP and a Congress candidate clashed with each other near a house during polling in Nichlaul town. The two accused each other of distributing money to voters, police said.
The supporters left before the police reached the spot, they said.
According to a report from Prayagraj, where gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead last month, polling in the city’s hyper-sensitive areas of Chakia, Kareli and Khuldabad was held peacefully.
Following the killing of Atiq and Ashraf, additional police personnel were deployed in the city and CCTVs were installed at 67 places.
The India-Nepal border was sealed at 6 pm on Tuesday. The security personnel are maintaining a strict vigil but allowing people who need to attend weddings or have some emergency work to pass.
Paramilitary and police personnel are continuously patrolling the Indo-Nepal border. Soldiers are carrying out pillar-to-pillar mobile duty for the security of the open border, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) border outpost in-charge Jayant Ghosh said.
The counting of votes for the two phases of the urban local body elections will be taken up on May 13. PTI NAV/ABN SNS DIV DIV
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