A voter turnout of 54.18 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the seventh and final phase of UP assembly elections on Monday.
The highest turnout of voters was recorded in Chandauli (59.54 per cent), followed by Sonbhadra (56.86 per cent), Mau (55.01 per cent), Mirzapur (54.95 per cent), Bhadohi (54.31 per cent), Janunpur (53.61 per cent), and Varanasi (52.95 per cent), Ghazipur (52.73 per cent) and Azamgarh 52.31 (per cent).
The seventh phase of polling covered 54 assembly seats, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi, and decided the fates of 613 candidates.
Polling began at 7 am and ended at 6 pm in Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra districts.
Of the 54 constituencies which went to polls in this phase, 11 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and two for Scheduled Tribes.
There were 2.06 crore eligible voters.
The final round of polling would also be a test of the alliances carved out by both Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party with small caste-based parties.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati had appealed to the voters on Twitter to exercise their franchise:
OP Rajbhar, president of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), on Monday expressed confidence of winning the assembly elections.
"Bharatiya Janata Party and Bahujan Samaj Party will not win a single seat in Ghazipur, Mau, Azamgarh, Ambedkar Nagar and Ballia. We are winning five of the eight seats in Varanasi, three of the four seats in Chandauli and seven of the nine seats in Jaunpur. We will win 45-47 seats in the Purvanchal region,” he said.
An elderly couple along with a handicapped woman reached a polling booth in Azamgarh on a bullock cart. "We don't want to waste our votes, that's why we came on a cart,” they said.
After casting her vote Apna Dal (Sonelal) chief and Union Minister of State Anupriya Patel said, "I have cast my vote in Mirzapur. I am sure that the National Democratic Alliance candidates will win in all five seats in Mirzapur."
Apna Dal is in alliance with the BJP.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait alleged that the ruling party could use "unfair" means during the counting of votes for the Uttar Pradesh elections on March 10.
Tikait is native of Muzaffarnagar district. Voting in Muzaffarnagar was held in the first phase on February 10. The BKU leader alleged that the BJP could use unfair means to win during the counting of votes on March 10.