The polling for the by-election to Gola Gokarannath assembly seat in Lakhimpur Kheri district recorded a turnout of 55.68 per cent voters by 5 pm on Thursday.
The polling ended an hour later at 6 pm.
According to Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla, the polling was peaceful and no incident was reported from the assembly constituency during the polling.
The by-election in Gola Gokarannath was necessitated due to the death of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Arvind Giri.
The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party had not fielded their candidates, making the electoral contest a direct fight between the Samajwadi Party and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
For the BJP, the by-election is more about prestige and maintaining its political hegemony in Uttar Pradesh. For the Samajwadi Party, the electoral battle is more about a morale booster that can potentially make up for the loss faced in the assembly polls earlier this year.
Both parties hope to ride the sympathy wave — BJP has fielded late Arvind Giri's 26-year-old son Aman. SP, that recently lost its patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, has fielded Vinay Tewari who unsuccessfully contested the polls from this assembly seat in 2017 and 2022.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party leveled serious allegations against the ruling party. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav alleged that free and fair elections are not possible under the BJP rule.
“There is a serious threat to democracy as alarm bells are ringing due to what happened in Gola Gokarannath on Thursday. The district administration of Lakhimpur acted as the polling agent of the ruling party and the voters in Gola Gokarannath assembly constituency were not allowed to exercise their franchise without fear and favour,” charged Akhilesh Yadav.
The Samajwadi Party president added, “The Election Commission of India was duly apprised of the each incident in Gola Gokarannath during the hours of polling but to no avail and no action was taken by the poll panel,”
Akhilesh Yadav alleged that BJP cadres captured the polling booths in village Lalahpur, Madanpur , Lakshmanjati and the polling agents of the SP were forced to flee from the area.
The SP chief added that it is the duty of the Election Commission of India to take cognisance of the incidents in Gola Gokarannath and ensure appropriate action.