A whopping 64.22 per cent of the 2.59-crore electorates in 73 Assembly constituencies of communally-sensitive western UP voted on Saturday in the first of the seven-phase polls in the State, the outcome of which will be crucial for the electoral fortunes of all the key players in the long run. The 64.22 per cent turnout surpassed the figures of 2012 elections when the same region registered 58.62 per cent polling. Voting was by and large peaceful with some stray incidents reported from Baghpat, Meerut, and Shamli.
Yadav family pocket borough Etah recorded the highest 73 per cent turnout, followed by Muzaffarnagar 65 per cent, Bulandshahr 64 per cent, Noida 60 per cent and Ghaziabad 57 per cent.
In Baghpat, while members of different communities clashed in Baghu colony leading to injuries to 10 people, another incident of violence was reported as the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) workers obstructed Dalit voters from casting their vote in looyan village under Badaut area, leading to a clash. An FIR was lodged against three RlD workers.
In Meerut, the police detained Gagan Som, brother of controversial BJP leader Sangeet Som, for carrying a pistol inside a polling booth. In Kithore segment of Shamli constituency, SP and BSP workers exchanged brickbats and even fired in the air.
In the 15-districts-strong Western UP, the stakes are high for the BJP, the BSP, the RlD and the SP, which is in alliance with the Congress this time around. In the 2012 polls, the SP and the BSP had shared the honours bagging 24 seats each. The BJP could win 11 seats, the RlD nine and the Congress five.
But riding on the “Modi wave”, the BJP had swept all the 12 lok Sabha seats of western UP, dominated by Jats and Muslims. Three Union Ministers Mahesh Sharma, General (retd) VK Singh, and Sanjeev Baliyan are from the region. Whether the Jats, which had solidly backed the BJP in 2014 but have been nursing grudges against the ruling party over the issue of reservation to them among others, will continue to support it or side with the RlD will be interesting to watch out for.
Similarly, whether the Muslims will overwhelmingly vote for the SP-Congress alliance or go with the BSP leading to community’s votebank getting divided too remains to be seen.
Notable among the candidates who were in the first fray are the son of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Pankaj Singh (from Noida), Congress legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur (Mathura) against whom BJP has fielded spokesman Srikant Sharma, BJP MP Hukum Singh’s daughter Mriganka Singh (Kairana), and controversial BJP MlAs Sangeet Som, and Suresh Rana from Sardhana and Thanabhawan respectively.
Former BJP State president lakshmikant Bajpai (Meerut), RJD chief lalu Prasad’s son-in-law Rahul Singh (SP) from Sikandrabad, and Sandeep Singh, grandson of Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh from Atrauli too are among other key figures in this phase.
In all, 839 candidates, including 77 women, are in the fray. Around 20 per cent of them have criminal cases registered against them and 36 per cent are crorepatis (multi-millionaires). The BJP and the BSP have fielded candidates in all 73 seats, while the SP and the ally Congress are contesting on 51 and 24 seats respectively and the Rashtriya lok Dal has fielded candidates in 57 seats.
The second phase in 67 Assembly seats would be held on February 15.