25.46% voting recorded in UP (3rd Lead) (1 p.m.)

Uttar Pradesh witnessed about 25.46 per cent voting for 13 parliamentary constituencies till 1 p.m. on Monday, officials said.

According to the Election Commission, Hamirpur and Jalaun recorded the highest voter turnout with 31.87 per cent and 31.32 per cent, followed by Kannauj at 29.90 per cent.

Hardoi recorded 26.68 per cent voting, Jhansi 25.33 per cent, Akbarpur 25.02 per cent, Misrikh 24.87 per cent, Kanpur 24.41 per cent, Farrukhabad 24.54 per cent, Kheri 23.52 per cent, Shahjahanpur 21.66 per cent, Etawah 21.51 per cent and Unnao 21.23 per cent.

Earlier in the day, technical glitches in electronic voting machines (EVMs) reportedly delayed the balloting process in four polling booths in Kannauj's Chhibramau area. EVM malfunctioning stopped voting in Hamirpur also.

From Kanpur, 100-year-old Manwati Arya, founder member of the Azad Hind Fauj, also exercised her franchise. She arrived at the polling booth on a wheel chair.

A total of 2.38 crore people are eligible to exercise their franchise at 27,513 polling booths.

In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party won 12 seats barring Kannauj, which was won by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav.

This time, the BJP has dropped its sitting MPs from Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Misrikh and Etawah.

The SP-BSP alliance has fielded six BSP candidates and seven SP candidates. The Congress has fielded candidates from all constituencies barring Kannauj.

Prominent candidates in the race in the fourth phase of the general elections in the state are Dimple Yadav, former union Ministers and Congress leaders Salman Khurshid, who is contesting from Farukhabad, and Sriprakash Jaiswal from Kanpur.

Uttar Pradesh cabinet Minister Satyadev Pachauri is also contesting from Kanpur after the party dropped sitting MP and veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. Sakshi Maharaj of the BJP is pitted against the Congress' Annu Tandon from Unnao.

--IANS

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