Polling for the third phase of UP assembly elections ended at 6 pm on Sunday with an average 57.58 per cent turnout of voters till 5 pm.
An average of 48.81 per cent polling was recorded till 3 pm on in 59 assembly constituencies spread in 16 districts in the third phase of UP assembly elections.
Among the key constituencies where polling was held on Sunday include Karhal from where former chief minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is contesting his maiden assembly election. The Bharatiya Janata Party has pitted Union Minister of State for Law and Justice, Satya Pal Singh Baghel against Akhilesh Yadav.
According to the Election Commission, the average polling till 5 pm was 59 per cent in Hathras, 57.14 per cent in Firozabad, 59.11 per cent in Kasganj, 63.58 per cent in Etah, 60.80 per cent in Mainpuri, 54.55 per cent in Farrukhabad, 60.28 per cent in Kannauj and 58.35 per cent in Etawah.
The voter turnout of 57.55 per cent was reported in Auraiya, 58.48 per cent in Kanpur Dehat, 50.76 per cent in Kanpur Nagar, 53.847 per cent in Jalaun, 57.71 per cent in Jhansi, 67.38 per cent in Lalitpur, 57.90 per cent in Hamirpur and 62.02 per cent in Mahoba.
The districts where polling was held on Sunday included Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Kasganj, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur and Mahoba.
The third phase polling also sealed the fate of Samajwadi Party chief’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, who is contesting from his traditional Jaswantnagar seat.
Before the campaigning ended for the third phase on Friday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra undertook a door-to-door campaign in Kanpur, Kalpi, Jalaun and Hamirpur, while Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati addressed election meetings in Jalaun and Auraiya.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had approached the EC seeking deployment of paramilitary forces at all booths in Karhal.
Among other prominent faces in the fray in this phase are BJP’s Satish Mahana (Maharajpur in Kanpur) and Ramvir Upadhyaya (Sadabad in Hathras), and Louise Khurshid, who is contesting on Congress ticket from Farrukhabad Sadar. Louise Khurshid is the wife of senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid.
Former IPS officer Asim Arun is contesting from Kannauj Sadar on BJP ticket while Uttar Pradesh minister Ramnaresh Agnihotri is also in the fray from Bhogaon seat in Mainpuri district.
In third phase of polls as many, as 627 candidates are in the fray, of which 97 are women. Over 2.16 crore voters were eligible to exercise their franchise at 25,794 polling booths and 15,557 polling stations.
The constituencies which went to polls on Sunday are in west, central and southern parts of Uttar Pradesh. In 2017, the BJP won 49 of these 59 seats while the SP won nine. The Congress won one seat and Mayawati's Bahujan Samajwadi Party none.
In Etawah city, one person, Krishnkant Tewari, died of cardiac arrest at Kokpura polling booth. He was rushed to hospital and later his body was handed over to the family without post-mortem.
In Mainpuri, incident of group clash leading to stone pelting was reported from Kishni assembly constituency. Police later controlled the situation.
The SP and BJP workers clashed at a polling booth of Babina assembly constituency in Jhansi district over fake voting. One person was injured in the incident.
In Kanpur Cantonment assembly constituency, many voters could not cast their vote as their names were missing from the electoral rolls. The name of the entire family of Brijesh Shukla, who had contested the municipal election in 2012, were missing from the voter list.
In Kasganj assembly constituency, five persons were taken into custody for attempting to cast vote with fake identity papers.