An estimated 53 per cent of the voters of the total 3.21 lakh used their franchise for the crucial Sikandra Assembly seat by-election in Kanpur Dehat district on Thursday.
Election Commission office, in lucknow confirmed that the by-polls was free from any incident and peaceful. But according to reports, glitches in electronic voting machines (EVMs) stalled the polling process at couple of booths.
The ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is attempting to retain the seat against Samajwadi Party and Congress candidates in a triangular contest. The seat fell vacant following the death of BJP MlA Mathura Prasad Pal. BJP has fielded Mathura Prasad Pal’s son Ajit from the seat. He is pitted against Samajwadi Party’s Seema Sachan, who is being supported by smaller parties such as NISHAD Party and Peace Party. Seema Sachan is the wife of former SP MP Rakesh Sachan.
Congress has fielded one Prabhakar Pandey, who had contested the last assembly polls on NISHAD Party ticket.
There were 3.21 lakh voters of which around 70,000 are dalits, who hold the key to this by-election. Besides Brahmin, Kurmi, Pal and Thakurs, too, have large number of voters in the area. There are 11 candidates, including five Independents and a woman in the fray. As Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is not contesting the by-poll, dalit votes are being targeted by all the candidates.
The Sikandra assembly segment is one of the five seats that comprise Etawah lok Sabha seat.