New Delhi: 63 per cent turnout was recorded in the first phase of the staggered Uttar Pradesh assembly elections spanning 73 constituencies in the western part of the state, officials said.
Polling was more or less peaceful across the 15 districts with some sporadic incidents of violence reported at some places, while at quite a few places, voting was delayed due to malfunctioning EVMs.
People turned up in large numbers to cast their franchise and elect their next representatives for the 17th state assembly. Voting took place in 73 assembly segments spread across 15 districts.
The polling percentage in the region has bettered the past two elections of 2007 and 2012, an election official told IANS based on reports gathered from all polling stations. The average polling is over 60 per cent in western UP seats.
Final details of the polling percentage will only be available after 7 p.m.
By the time voting ended, Noida had recorded 59 per cent, Dadri 61, Jewar (65), Bulandshahr (64), Shamli (62), Fatehabad (70.82), Mathura (67), Agra (63.94) and Fatehpur Siri (69.49). The polling percentage in Mathura improved by eight per cent over the 2012 state assembly elections.
Total vote percentage in the 2007 state assembly polls was 45.96 per cent and 59.40 per cent in 2012. This seemingly is set to be broken this time round as people are turning out in much larger numbers.
The highest turnout was seen in Aligarh (55.85 per cent), Mathura (55.42 per cent), Etah (55.01 per cent) and Meerut (55 per cent), followed by Bulandshahr (54.51 per cent), Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar (both 54 percent).
All had overtaken Taj city Agra which had initially led the turnout figures in the first few hours after polling began at 7 p.m. but only registered 51.74 per cent by 3 p.m.
At many places, polling was disrupted or delayed due to technical snags in EVMs, said an official, adding that by and large voting was smooth and steady at most places.
Sporadic incidents of poll violence were reported from some places. Clashes between activists of the ruling Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party were reported from two places.
The largest constituency in this phase, as per population, is Sahibabad in Ghaziabad and the smallest is Jalesar in Etah.
There are 26,822 polling centres for over two crore voters in this phase of polling, for which 839 candidates, including Pankaj Singh, the son of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, were in the fray.
Here are all important updates related to Uttar Pradesh polls 2017
- Provisional polling figures till 5pm- Noida: 51%, Dadri: 61%, Jewar:66%
- Ghaziabad district registers 57.41% polling till 5pm
- The least turnout was witnessed in Firozabad – 40.80 per cent by 3 p.m.
- Hathras recorded 50 per cent, Shamli 53 and Kasganj 51.17 per cent, while Noida and Ghaziabad adjoining the national capital recorded 49 per cent and 50.42 per cent respectively.
- Overall 39% voter turnout recorded till 1 pm
- 42% polling till 1pm in Muzaffarnagar
- 37.56% voting in Ghaziabad till 1pm
- Aligarh: 38% polling till 1pm
- 30% votes polled till 12 pm
- Meerut: BJP MLA Sangeet Som’s brother Gagan held for carrying pistol inside polling booth in Sardhana
- There is a big BSP wave across the state and the reports I am getting from the first phase of voting are very positive: Mayawati
- BJP wins all three MLC seats in UP where elections were held: Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Bareilly
- 29% voting in Shamli till 11 am
- Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan cast his vote in Muzaffarnagar
