An estimated 55.60 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 6 pm in the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.

Poll officials said the turnout figure could increase as data was being compiled. The Election Commission of India will release the final data of voting by 5 pm on Sunday.

Voting ended at 6 pm sealing the fate of 144 candidates in 13 constituencies of the state, including Varanasi, from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third consecutive term in the Lok Sabha. As voting concluded in the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday, Uttar Pradesh will be in focus. The outcome in UP will be key to the ‘400 Paar’ target the Bharatiya Janata Party has set for the National Democratic Alliance’s return.

The bypoll for the Duddhi (ST) assembly constituency in Sonbhadra district was also held on Saturday where 54.48 per cent voter turnout was recorded.  Six candidates are contesting from the Duddhi assembly seat that fell vacant after BJP MLA Ram Dular’s disqualification following his conviction in a rape case.

UP sends 80 members to the lower house of Parliament and the polling was spread over all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections.

Besides Varanasi, the other constituencies where polling took place on Saturday were Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon (SC), Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Robertsganj (SC) spread across 11 districts.

UP Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said here on Saturday that by 5 pm, 58.66 per cent voting was recorded in Maharajganj, 52.53 per cent in Gorakhpur, 56.04 per cent in Kushinagar, 54.13 per cent in Deoria, 50.06 per cent in Bansgaon (SC), 53.19 per cent in Ghosi, 50.21 per cent in Salempur, 50.56 per cent in Ballia, 53.53 per cent in Ghazipur, 58.19 per cent in Chandauli, 54.58 per cent in Varanasi, 55.83 per cent in Mirzapur and 54.25 per cent in Robertsganj (ST).

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath exercised his franchise in Gorakhpur, while Union minister Anupriya Patel, a candidate from Mirzapur, cast her vote in Mirzapur.

UP’s chief electoral officer said the polling was peaceful across 13 Lok Sabha constituencies and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere. He said 236 complaints relating to polling were received and they were immediately disposed of.  He said the maximum 41 complaints were received from Ballia constituency, followed by 34 in Deoria, and 28 each in Varanasi and Ghazipur. He said on different social media platforms 180 complaints were received.

The CEO said for effective monitoring of the polling process, the Election Commission of India had made arrangements for webcasting at 13,092 polling booths while videography was done at 2,304 polling booths.

Rinwa said one voter, Rambachan Chauhan, died at polling booth number 257 in Sikandarpur assembly segment of Ballia Lok Sabha constituency. The 70-year-old man collapsed and died at the polling booth set up in a primary school in Chak Bahuddin village. Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Sikandarpur, Ravi Kumar, said Rambachan Chauhan fell ill before he could join the queue of voters at the booth. Local residents claimed that he experienced dizziness while standing in  the queue and fainted.

According to reports, voters in Ballia's Math Dhajju Giri village boycotted the polls over their demand for road connectivity and electricity supply. Local SHO Dharamveer Singh said there are about 900 voters in the village.

In Rasulpur village of Ballia, several voters boycotted the Lok Sabha polls and raised their demand for an underpass, saying they were facing great difficulties in its absence.

In Maharajganj district, voters were given a sapling each at the polling centre set up at a primary school in Nagar Panchayat Chowk.

In the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections, Uttar Pradesh is witnessing direct contest between the BJP-led NDA and INDIA bloc members Samajwadi Party and Congress.

Among the prominent Lok Sabha seats in this phase are Modi’s Varanasi, Gorakhpur, which has been represented by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath five times, and Chandauli, Maharajganj and Mirzapur from where Union ministers Mahendra Nath Pandey, Pankaj Chaudhary and Anupriya Patel are contesting.

Taking a swipe at the opposition bloc meeting at Delhi on Saturday Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “INDI Alliance will hold its final meeting today. After the election, everyone will blame each other; they will make fun of each other. EVM (electronic voting machine) accusers will make new accusations. Those who patronise the mafia should not be talking about this.”

From Ghazipur, mafia-turned-politician late Mukhtar Ansari’s brother Afzal Ansari is in the fray and from Ballia, former prime minister Chandrashekhar’s son Neeraj Shekhar is contesting the poll.

Campaigning for the 13 Lok Sabha seats ended on Thursday evening. Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were among the star campaigners for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) besides Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.