The second phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday saw 65.5 per cent voting, while at 68 per cent Uttarakhand recorded its highest ever turnout.
In its post-poll briefing, the Election Commission said the “very sensitive” second phase in Uttar Pradesh for 67 Assembly constituencies passed off peacefully.
The EC said that enforcement agencies seized Rs16.52 crore in cash, 3.29 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs9 crore and drugs worth Rs1.16 crore in Uttar Pradesh.
Vijay Dev, Deputy Election Commissioner in charge of Uttar Pradesh, said that 117 electronic voting machines (EVMs) and 24 voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines had to be replaced during the polls.
The corresponding figures were 20 and seven in case of Uttarakhand.
There was one instance of paid news in Uttarakhand, said the EC, adding that polling was free from any violence.
When asked about the Dainik Jagran case, Dev appealed to the media to go for “self-imposed implementation” of the norms and refused to share any further details saying the matter was under probe.
A polling party had to trek for two days to reach a height of 10,000 feet for conducting vote at the Reeh polling station, which has only 275 electors, located in the Tehri Garhwal district in Uttarakhand.
“There were 479 polling stations which were in snow-covered areas,” Deputy Election Commissioner in charge Sandeep Saxena said. Around Rs 3.38 crore was seized in cash in Uttarakhand along with 147 illegal weapons. liquor worth Rs 3.1 crore was seized and drugs worth Rs 37.23 lakh in the hill State.
“The voting percentage had breached all records by 5 pm when it touched 68 per cent. Around 67.22 turnout was recorded in the 2012 Assembly polls while 2014 lok Sabha polls saw 62.15 per cent turnout,” Saxena told reporters.
In this phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh, 82 women candidates were in the fray while the same was 60 in Uttarakhand. The number of third gender candidates was eight and two respectively.