An average voter turnout of 57.54 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in all eight parliamentary constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh where polling was held in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday.

The total turnout of voters was expected to be marginally above 60 per cent.

The eight constituencies where polling was held on Friday included Pilibhit, Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina, Moradabad and Rampur. Of these, Saharanpur, Kairana, Bijnor, Moradabad and Rampur are general constituencies.

Over 25 per cent turnout was recorded till 11 am, and it rose to an average of 37 per cent till 1 pm. By 3 pm over 47.44 per cent voters had cast their votes in the eight constituencies.

The voter turnout was 54.68 per cent in Bijnor, 58.68 per cent in Kairana, 57.65 per cent in Moradabad, 54.91 per cent in Muzaffarnagar, 58.05 per cent in Nagina, 60.23 per cent in Pilibhit, 52.42 per cent in Rampur and 63.29 per cent in Saharanpur.

Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Electoral Officer Navdip Rinwa said the voting figures were being tabulated and the final figures would be available in late hours of Friday/Saturday.

He said the polling was free, fair and peaceful in all eight Lok Sabha constituencies and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere except incidents of scuffles among the supporters of rival candidates in some places. He said the situation was immediately brought under control by the police.

The CEO said no major incident of malfunctioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) was reported from any of the 14, 845 polling booths spread in eight Lok Sabha constituencies which went to polls on Friday.

He said 50 ballot units, 50 control units and 152 VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) machines were replaced due to malfunction. He said the polling was affected for some time and the machines were immediately replaced from the reserve machines available with sector magistrates.

The CEO said arrangements were made for the webcasting of polling in 7,500 polling booths for keeping close watch on the polling process. He said the webcasting was watched at the district control room, by the chief electoral officer at Lucknow and the Election Commission of India at Delhi.

He said no major complaint about the polling process was received. He said complaints were immediately addressed and no complaint was repeated. He said the complaints were of three types – EVM malfunction, intimidation of voters and voters being prevented from casting their vote. He said voters were allowed to cast votes without showing valid identity documents in some polling booths.

The polling commenced at 7 am and concluded at 6 pm.

The CEO said till 11 am, 29.84 per cent voting was reported in Saharanpur, 23.35 per cent in Moradabad, 25.89 per cent in Kairana, 26.89 per cent in Nagina, 26.94 per cent in Pilibhit, 25.50 per cent in Bijnor, 20.71 per cent in Rampur and 22.62 per cent in Muzaffarnagar. These seats fall in the Jat and sugarcane belt of the state.

Among the prominent candidates in the fray in the first phase polls are Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jitin Prasada from Pilibhit, Union minister Sanjeev Balyan from Muzaffarnagar and Azad Samaj Party chief Chandrashekhar Azad from Nagina. The ruling BJP has joined hands with the Rashtriya Lok Dal, while the Samajwadi Party has allied with the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections. The Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to go solo.

A total of 80 candidates –73 men and seven women – are contesting in the first phase polls.

The Election Commission of India said 1.43 crore people were eligible to cast their votes in the first phase.

To ensure security, 6,018 inspectors and sub-inspectors, 35,750 constables and 24,992 home guard personnel, along with 60 companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and 220 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) were deployed.