An estimated 60.03 per cent of the total 1.41 crore voters exercised their franchise in the seventh and the last phase of polling for the UP State Assembly elections on Wednesday.
The polling was held in 40 Assembly seats spread in seven districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh. The Assembly seats includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lok Sabha constituency Varanasi. According to Election Commission the estimated 60 percent voter’s turnout was recorded and could marginally increase in some constituencies as there were long queues at several polling stations.
UP Chief Electoral Officer T Vekentesh said except for the complaints of EVM malfunction, the polling was peaceful in all the 40 constituencies and there was no incident of violence during the polling.
In 2012 Assembly elections these districts polled an average of 57.92 per cent while in 2014 lok Sabha polls it was around 55 per cent.
With the last phase election on Wednesday the polling in all the 403 Assembly seats except in Alapur Assembly seat in Amebdkar nagar district, has been completed. Polling in this seat will be held on Thursday.
Polling started amid tight security arrangements in seven districts and gained momentum as the day advanced.
Ghazipur, Jaunpur and Bhadoi are the other districts where polling was held. Voting concluded at 5 pm in all constituencies, barring the Naxal-hit areas where it ended at 4 pm.
In Jaunpur, BJP candidate from Jafarabad seat Harendra Pratap Singh and four others were arrested for allegedly taking voters to polling booths in two vehicles. Singh, however, denied the charge.
Counting of votes of all the 403 seats will be held on March 11. 14,458 polling booths were set up for exercise which will decide the fate of 585 candidates, including 51 women.
The BJP contested 32 seats and its allies — the Apna Dal and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party — fought in four seats each. The BSP fielded its nominees for all seats. While the SP contested 31 seats, its ally the Congress is in the race for the remaining seats.