The fourth and the final phase of panchayat polls in the state passed peacefully on Thursday with 63 per cent voters exercising their franchise. Due to sudden change in the weather the voting started on a dull note but picked up during the day.
In Janunpur, Minister of State for Water resources and Barren land, Jagdish Sonkar had a verbal duel with SP, Raju Babu when the latter rushed to check complaints of bogus voting ands voiting was stopped for some time.
Elsewhere in Pilibhit, minister Riyaz Ahmad’s son-in-law assaulted his rivals when they objected bogus voting.
Meanwhile in Maharajganj, a candidate for the member kshetra panchayat from lakshmipur block died under mysterious circumstances. The State Election Commission sources said that the incident had nothing to do with the polls.
In Taprana village of Shamli, aides of a SP candidate were seen distributing sweets to the police personnel posted at the polling station. In Bhadohi and Ambedkar Nagar, the DMs changed the presiding officers of one polling station each following complaints of partisan conduct.
In Agra, a candidate for member Kshetra Panchayat was arrested for influencing voters by doling out cash outside the polling station while villagers of Keelpur block in Jaitpur block boycotted polls to protest lack of development work.
In Manduvadeeh block of Varanasi district a candidate allegedly distributed sarees among the women voters but escaped before the police arrived on the scene.
In Unchaar block of Rae Bareli, the son of a block pramukh was arrested for disrupting the voting while supporters of rival candidates clashed in Pihani block of Hardoi and Chittora block of Bahriach . In Bagpat, two teenagers were arrested for bogus voting
In the last phase, 11699 candidates contested 704 seats of member district panchayat, while 97,000 candidates contested for the 18,522 seats of member Kshetra panchayat. The State Election Commission had set up 42,749 polling stations.