61% voting in UP fourth phase polls, expected to cross 63 %

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday said that a total of 61 percent of voter turnout was recorded in the fourth phase of the ongoing assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and added that it is expected to cross 63 percent.

"This phase has been extremely peaceful and for this we would like to congratulate all the citizens of the region coming out in large number to vote and also for maintain the peace and public tranquility," Deputy Election Commissioner Vijay Dev said.

Dev also said that after the implementation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC), a total of 13.49 crores of cash and 3.26 lakhs liters of liquor worth Rs. 8.17 crore have been seized in this region.

Apart from this, a total of 112.5 crore of cash, 19.78 lakh liters of liquor worth Rs. 56. 05 crores, drugs of worth Rs. 7.41 crores and gold and silver of worth Rs. 25. 15 crores have been recovered from the state of Uttar Pradesh till now.

The Deputy Election Commissioner also said that there were strict security arrangements in the region to inure free and fair election process.

The total number of polling station was 19, 487 which were housed in 12,492 polling locations.

The Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were also used in three constituencies i.e. North Allahabad, South Allahabad and Jhansi Nagar.

With over 680 candidates in the fray 61 candidates were women and a total number of voter in this phase was 1,84,82,066.

Dev further said that the SHO and Police station in charge has been suspended after the Pre-polling incident where at least four people including Samajwadi Party candidate Siddhgopal Sahu's son were injured after a clash between SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supporters broke out in Mahoba and all the people indulge in it has been taken into custody.

In the fourth phase, the district that went to polling are Bundelkhand, Rae Bareilly region, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur.