Lucknow, February 23: In the 18th Assembly elections across Uttar Pradesh, in the fourth phase, voting was held on Wednesday for 59 seats in nine districts. On an average, 57.45 per cent polling was recorded till 5 pm.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ajay Kumar Shukla said that the fourth phase of polling was completed peacefully except for sporadic incidents. There is no report of any untoward incident from anywhere.
The CEO said that according to the data received till 5 pm, maximum 62.42 percent votes were cast in Kheri, while the lowest 54.05 percent voters exercised their franchise in Unnao district. Apart from this, 61.33 percent voting was recorded in Pilibhit, 58.39 in Sitapur, 55.29 in Hardoi, 55.08 in Lucknow, 58.40 in Rae Bareli, 57.54 in Banda and 57.02 percent in Fatehpur.
He said that those who have reached the polling stations by the end of the polling period i.e. 6 o’clock, they will get an opportunity to cast their votes even after the time is over. In this way the percentage of votes can also increase.
In the election of the 18th Assembly, voting began in the fourth phase of 59 seats in nine districts at 7 am today amid tight security arrangements. Initially, due to the cold, there were fewer crowds of voters at the polling stations. On an average, 09.10 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 am. After this, as soon as the sun set, the number of voters started increasing at the polling stations, as a result, the voting percentage was 22.62 till 11 am, then 37.45 till 1 pm, 49.89 till 3 pm and 57.45 percent till 5 pm.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer, except for sporadic incidents, the fourth phase of polling was conducted peacefully. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere till the writing of the news. He said that initially complaints of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were received from some polling stations, which were resolved immediately.
The fate of 624 candidates, including several veterans and 91 women, was sealed in the EVMs in the fourth phase of elections today.
Among the veteran candidates, State Law Minister Brajesh Pathak is the BJP candidate from Lucknow Cantt. Urban Development Minister Ashutosh Tandon, Rajeshwar Singh, who left his job from the Enforcement Directorate and joined BJP, Abhishek Mishra, who was a minister in the SP government and Ravidas Malhotra, are also in the fray from different seats in Lucknow.
Apart from this, Deputy Speaker of the UP Vidhan Sabha Nitin Agarwal is contesting from Hardoi on a BJP ticket.
1712 sector and 210 zonal magistrates were posted
According to Chief Electoral Officer Shukla, 57 general observers, nine police observers and 18 expenditure observers were also deployed by the Election Commission to keep a watchful eye on the fourth phase of polling. Apart from this, 1712 Sector Magistrates, 210 Zonal Magistrates, 105 Static Magistrates and 3110 Micro Observers were also deployed.
โLive webcasting was arranged at 50 percent polling places of each district for supervision of polling. There are 2.13 crore voters in the fourth phase of polling, of which 1.14 crore are male, 99.3 lakh female and 966 third gender voters. In this phase, 13,817 polling stations and 24,643 polling stations were set up for voting. Of these, there were 874 Adarsh โโpolling stations and 142 all-women personnel polling places. A total of 1, 15,725 polling personnel were engaged to conduct the election process,โ Shukla added.
Voting took place under the Covid protocol
Shukla apprised further that in view of Covid-19, adequate arrangements were made for thermal scanners, hand sanitizers, gloves, face masks, face shields, PPE kits, soap, water etc. at the polling places at the time of polling. Voter guides were also distributed for the convenience of the voters. It also mentions the dos and don’ts related to Kovid-19. Ramps, toilets and drinking water facilities were available at all polling places. During the voting period, all the BLOs were instructed that they would be present at the helpdesk with the voter list and would assist the coming voters.
These are the nine districts of the fourth phase
The fourth phase of polling was held today in the assembly constituencies of Pilibhit, Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Banda and Fatehpur districts.
4th stage seats
In this phase Pilibhit, Barkheda, Puranpur (SC), Bisalpur, Palia, Nighasan, Gola Gokarnath, Srinagar (SC), Dhaurhara, Lakhimpur, Kasta (SC), Mohammadi, Maholi, Sitapur, Hargaon (SC), Laharpur, Biswan, Sevata, Mahmudabad, Sidhauli (SC), Misrikh (SC), Sawaijpur, Shahabad, Hardoi, Gopamau (SC), Sandi (SC), Bilgram-Mallanwa, Balamau (SC), Sandila, Bangarmau, Safipur (SC), Mohan ( SC), Unnao, Bhagwantnagar, Purva, Malihabad (SC), Bakshi Ka Talab, Sarojininagar, Lucknow West, Lucknow North, Lucknow East, Lucknow Central, Lucknow Cantonment, Mohanlalganj (SC), Bachranwa (SC), Harchandpur, Rae Bareli, Sareni , Unchahar, Tindwari, Baberu, Naraini (SC), Banda, Jehanabad, Bindki, Fatehpur, Ayahshah, Hussainganj and Khaga (SC) are assembly seats.
