By IANS,
Lucknow: Voters of western Uttar Pradesh, where polling was held for 18 constituencies, displayed more enthusiasm – registering 50 percent turnout – compared to the three preceding phases to elect the country’s next government.
Thursday’s balloting was the biggest voting exercise in the state and saw several political bigwigs, criminals as well as many multi-millionaires in the fray for this round. As many as 314 candidates battled it out for 18 constituencies spread over 20 districts, with an electorate of 2.56 crore.
The third phase April 30 saw 45 percent polling, the second (April 23) witnessed 44 percent while the first phase (April 16) saw 49 percent balloting.
The highest voting of 53 percent was recorded in Mathura, that acquired much significance largely on account of the presence of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Singh, who is seeking to make his debut entry into the parliament.
The lowest turnout was reported from Agra, where only 41.5 percent voters stepped out of their homes to exercise their franchise.
Another key constituency, Kannauj, from where Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son Akhilesh Yadav was trying his luck, recorded a relatively higher voting percentage of 51, though the adjoining Firozabad from where he was also in the fray, witnessed a low turnout of just 45 percent.
However, their fathers failed to attract as impressive a turnout of voters in their respective constituencies. While Ajit Singh’s traditional political bastion, Bagpat registered a low voting of 46.4 percent, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Mainpuri constituency recorded 49 percent.
Ghaziabad, from where Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh was in the fray, had a turnout of 46 percent, but Fatehpur Sikri – with film star-turned politician Raj Babbar in the scene witnessed an impressive 52 percent voting.
Other than minor sporadic incidents of disruption in the polling process largely on account of temporary faults in the EVMs, no untoward incident was reported from any part of the vast region that went to poll.
Nearly 200,000 security personnel were detailed to man 29,312 polling stations equipped with 29,649 EVMs.