Thunderstorm followed by heavy rain in several parliamentary constituencies failed to dampen the spirits of the voters who came out in record numbers to exercise their franchise on Thursday.
As per tentative figures, around 63 per cent electorate cast their votes, an increase of over eight per cent than the last parliamentary elections, in the 11 constituencies which went to polls on Thursday in the second phase of the State’s general polls.
The voters braved the adverse weather conditions in the later half of the day and exercised their franchise in the 11 lok Sabha constituencies in western and Rohilkhand regions of the State.
The polling was by and large peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere, Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha told reporters in the State capital.
Sources in the Election Commission here said that voting was affected in Pilibhit, Bareilly, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and other districts due to hail and storm in the afternoon. Heavy rain lashed Pilibhit and Bareilly due to which several voters could not vote.
The sources said that the polling percentage till 1 pm was 38.06 and it went up to 58.86 at 5 pm. At 3 pm, the polling percentage was 49.61.
In the first phase polling in 10 constituencies on April 10, the incident-free voting percentage was above 65.
The voter turnout in these 11 constituencies where polling was held on Thursday, was 55.09 per cent in the 2009 lok Sabha elections and 64.45 per cent in the 2012 Assembly polls.
Aonla and Sambhal constituencies recorded the highest 66.80 per cent polling at 5 pm, followed by 64.60 per cent in Budaun, 62.12 in Amroha, 61.98 per cent in Nagina, 61.22 in Moradabad, 60 in Bareilly, 61.64 in Kheri, 59.62 in Rampur, 57.20 in Pilibhit and the lowest 55.50 per cent in Shahjahanpur.
Barring an incident in which a youth immolated himself on a polling station premises after not finding his name in the voter list in Bhamaura area of Bareilly district (Aonla constituency) and some other minor incidents, the polling was by and large peaceful.
Hariram (35) had gone to cast his vote at Ram Bharose Inter College polling station in Aonla constituency in Bareilly district but when he was told that his name was not in the list, he doused himself with kerosene and set himself afire. He was rushed to hospital where he died immediately.
However, Bareilly officials said the youth had committed suicide due to some family problems. They denied that the name of the victim was missing in the voters list.
Meanwhile, in another incident, a clash took place between police and the Aam Aadmi Party supporters, including its candidate Rajiv Agarwal, when around 350 voters of Naugra Pakaria village under Pilibhit Assembly segment were not allowed to cast their votes as their names were missing from the electoral rolls.
AAP activists were protesting against people not being allowed to vote even when they were issued voting slips.