Over 57 lakh voters sealed the fates of 130 candidates, including Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grand-nephew Tej Pratap Singh Yadav in Mainpuri, in the electronic voting machines at 5,939 polling booths in the bypolls to 11 Assembly one lok Sabha constituencies on Saturday.
Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha told reporters in the state capital in the evening that polling passed off peacefully with not a single report of violence from anywhere.
Barring lucknow and Gautam Buddha Nagar (Nodia), over 50 per cent polling was recorded at other places. Voters in both these districts showed little interest in the battle of ballots and preferred to enjoy the holiday at their homes. While lucknow East Assembly seat recorded just 34 per cent turnout, only 32.50 per cent voters exercised their franchise in Noida.
The voters in all the other nine Assembly constituencies as well as Mainpuri parliamentary seat gave good response and about 53.18 per cent of the total electorate exercised their franchise in the Assembly bypolls while in Mainpuri, 56.40 per cent polling was reported. Thakurdwara in Moradabad recorded the highest number of voter turnout (69 per cent).No untoward incident was reported from anywhere as the Election Commission had made elaborate security arrangements with record deployment of jawans of Central Para-Military Forces (CPMF).
The polling started on a dull note due to bad weather in lucknow, Bahraich, Varanasi and lakhimpuri Kheri districts in the morning but it picked up as the weather improved in the day time. The Noida Assembly seat recorded the lowest turnout of just 16 per cent till 1 pm followed by 20 per cent in lucknow East assembly seat. Thakurdwara assembly seat recorded the highest 46 per cent polling till 1 pm.Pilling started at 7 am and concluded at 6 pm.
The counting of votes will take place on September 16. Giving the polling percentage at the end of voting at 6 pm, Sinha said that 54 per cent of voters cast their votes at Saharanpur Nagar, 58 per cent at Bijnor, 69 per cent at Thakurdwara in Moradabad, 63.50 per cent at Nighasan at Kheri, 56.50 per cent at Hamirpur, 59.50 per cent at Charkhari in Mahoba, 50.50 per cent at Sirathu in Kaushambhi, 55 per cent at Balha in Bahraich and 52.50 per cent at Rohania in Varanasi district.
Reports from Rohania said there were some hot altercations between Apna Dal MP Anupriya Patel and Samajwadi Party polling agent. Some minor disputes between Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters were reported from Saharanpur, Bijnor, Thakurdwara and some other places.
In Sirathu, the voters boycotted polling in Fazilpur Gopal village and Kherwa village but later on the intervention of district authorities they withdrew their protest by noon. It was also reported that in some booths, polling was delayed due to malfunctioning of the EVMs during the early hours. But the defective EVMs were immediately replaced by the authorities.
Over 57 lakh voters, including 16.47 lakh voters in Mainpuri lok Sabha constituency, exercised their franchise in 5,939 polling boothsIn Mainpuri constituency, there were 1,929 polling booths. For the first time 213 companies of central forces were deployed in by-election with the highest number of 68 companies being deployed in Mainpuri.
All booths were guarded by central forces.There were 118 candidates in the fray for 11 Assembly seats and 12, including Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, for Mainpuri lok Sabha seat. SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, his wife Dimple Yadav, PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav and other members of the Yadav family voted in Saifai in Etawah, their native place.
The 11 Vidhan Sabha seats where polling took place on Saturday included Saharanpur City, Bijnor, Thakurdwara, Noida, Nighasan, lucknow East, Hamirpur, Charkhari, Sirathu, Balha and Rohania.