UP re-polls: 42 per cent polling in Kairana till 1 pm

Lucknow: After a slow start, brisk voting began for the re-poll in five polling booths of Shamli and 68 booths in Saharanpur falling under the Kairana parliamentary constituency as 42 per cent votes were recorded here till 1 p.m., an election official said on Wednesday.

Voting began at 7 am amid tight security and only 18.71 per cent polling was recorded in the first two hours, said the Election Commission (EC) official, adding that the polling so far has been peaceful. 

There was a report of a snag in an Electronic Voting Machine in Bapu village, which has been rectified and the voting has restarted after a brief interruption, the official said.

A polling agent was taken to task by visiting officials at Sanga Kheda after he was found in possession of a mobile phone inside the booth. There was inconvenience caused at Sirsila village where the polling officials had by mistake announced that repeal would be done on booth number 355 instead of booth number 356.

Many people formed queues outside the wrong booth that led to confusion and anger amongst the voters. 

The re-polls have been necessitated after both opposition parties and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged snags in the VVPAT-EVMs during the May 28 by-polls.