By IANS,
Lucknow : An estimated 17 percent of the voters exercised their franchise by around noon Thursday in the 16 parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh going to the polls, officials said.
“We have learnt that nearly 17 percent voter turnout was recorded in Uttar Pradesh till noon,” state Additional Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha told IANS.
He said that the highest voter turnout was recorded in Ghazipur parliamentary constituency.
“As per the reports coming to us, Ghazipur recorded around 22 percent voter turnout by around noon,” Sinha said.
According to officials, there are around 1.52 million voters in Ghazipur.
The fate of 271 candidates in the 16 constituencies will be decided by 24 million voters.
Over 125,000 security personnel have been deployed at 26,279 polling stations manned by about 110,000 polling personnel in the first phase.
“There was a minor clash between two groups in Deoria but no other untoward incident has been reported from any other part of the state so far. Security forces are keeping a strict vigil even in the remotest parts of the constituencies where 45 central observers are also on the move,” Sinha said.