Voters brave storm, rain to cast record votes

Thunder storm followed by heavy rains 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  Friday in the second phase of the state’s general elections.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 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 per cent in Amroha, 61.98 in Nagina, 61.22 per cent in Moradabad, 60 per cent in Bareilly, 61.64 per cent 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 parliamentary 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 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.  

The AAP activists were protesting against these people not being allowed to vote even when they were issued voting slips. On the intervention of District Magistrate ON Singh and SP N Kolanchi, the issue was solved though the AAP candidate alleged that the Songari police station in-charge Atul Pradhan, at the behest of the ruling party candidate, thrashed them. 

On the other hand, over 1,000 voters of two villages in Pilibhit lok Sabha constituency boycotted polling in protest against no development in the area.  Around 551 voters of Pautakhamaria village under Amaria police station and 487 voters of Nawadiya Khas village under Gajraula police station boycotted the polls. A youth was arrested at booth No. 301 at Jamalpur in Aonla lok Sabha constituency for beating up the presiding officer while only four votes were polled at booth number 12 in Pritamgarh area of Nagina lok Sabha seat as the voters boycotted polling over waterlogging problem in their area. 

Around 585 voters of Mallickpur village under Shekhpura assembly segment of Aonla lok Sabha constituencies also boycotted polling.Reports said that except for some early technical problems in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in a few polling booths, the polling went on smoothly.

The faulty EVMs were immediately changed, sources claimed.  In this phase, the fate of 150 candidates, including senior leaders like Maneka Gandhi of BJP in Pilibhit, Noor Bano of Congress in Moradabad, Santosh Gangwar of BJP in Bareilly, former minister Haji Yakub Quereshi of BSP in Moradabad, former dacoit Phoolan Devi’s husband Umed Singh of BSP in Shahjahanpur, Zafar Ali Naqvi of Congress in Kheri, and Rakesh Tikait of RlD in Amroha, were sealed in EVMs.

The second phase of election in UP had 1.85 crore voters — 10.09 lakh males and 8.4 lakh females. As many as 18,975 polling stations were set up for this phase of election and over one lakh security personnel were deployed for smooth conduct of polling. The Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party had fielded candidates in all the 11 constituencies, while the Congress contested eight seats, leaving the remaining for its allies Rashtriya lok Dal and Mahan Dal. 

Among the 11 constituencies which went to poll on Thursday, The Samajwadi Party had won four, the Congress three, BJP two and BSP and RlD one each in the 2009 polls. 

Out of the candidates in fray in phase two, around 16 per cent or 33 candidates have criminal background while 52 candidates are crorepatis.