Uttar Pradesh sees 64 percent turnout in 1st phase of Assembly Elections, polling peaceful

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh recorded 64 percent voter turnout in the first of the seven-phased Assembly polls, spanning 73 constituencies on Saturday.

The polling was largely peacefully, barring a few stray incidents of violence.

Chief Electoral Officer T Venkatesh said at some places, there were reports of election slips being snatched, leading to pelting of stones and clashes.

The turn out was estimated at around 64 per cent till the close of polling, he told a news conference here at the end of polling.

The first phase witnessed a three per cent rise in voter turnout as in the same phase in 2012, covering these assembly constituencies, it was 61 per cent.

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Etah recorded 73 per cent turnout, Muzaffarnagar 65 pc, Bulandshahr 64 pc, Noida 60 pc and Ghaziabad 57 pc, he said.

A total of 2.60 crore voters, including over 1.17 crore women and 1,508 belonging to third gender category were eligible to cast their ballot to decide the fate of 839 candidates.

The Election Commission did not give the figures of voter turnout on the corresponding seats in the 2012 assembly polls, but said the percentage recorded today was higher than the 58.62 turnout recorded in the state then.

The overall turnout in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was 59.12 per cent.

Deputy Election Commissioner in charge of Uttar Pradesh Vijay Dev termed the turnout as "exemplary" and said it will "set the tone for the remaining six phases" to be held between February 15 and March 8.

A report from Baghpat said members of different communities clashed in Baghu colony in the city when one side tried stop the other from casting their votes.

Ten persons were injured in the clash and had to be admitted to hospital, police said.

Another incident of violence was reported from Baghpat, where Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) workers obstructed Dalit voters from casting their vote in Looyan village under Badaut area, leading to clash and FIR being lodged against three party workers.

In Meerut, police detained Gagan Som, brother of controversial BJP leader Sangeet Som, for carrying a pistol inside a polling booth.

Gagan had reached the polling booth in Sardhana Assembly seat at 9 AM. The security personnel deployed there frisked him and recovered a pistol from his possession. He was immediately detained, police said.

Officials said that as per the poll code, those possessing licensed weapons are required to deposit them with the police. The permission to keep arms is granted in special cases only.

Sangeet is a sitting MLA from Sardhana and had shot to limelight for his controversial speeches during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.

The first phase of polling will decide the electoral fortunes of son of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Pankaj Singh (from Noida), Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur (Mathura) against whom BJP spokesman Srikant Sharma is in the fray, daughter of BJP MP Hukum Singh Mriganka Singh (Kairana), and controversial BJP MLAs Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana from Sardhana and Thanabhawan respectively.

Former BJP state president Lakshmikant Bajpai (Meerut), RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son-in-law Rahul Singh (SP) from Sikandrabad, and Sandeep Singh, grandson of Rajasthan Govenor Kalyan Singh from Atrauli are among other key figures in this phase.

The districts where polling was held are Hapur, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura, Hathras, Agra, Firozabad, Etah and Kasganj.

In the 73 constituencies where polling was held, SP and BSP had bagged 24 seats each in the 2012 polls, BJP 11, RLD nine and Congress five.