Brisk voting in 2 hours in UP's 2nd phase poll

Brisk voting is reported in the first two hours of polling in the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on Wednesday.

Excited first time voters, newly weds, elderly, differently-abled and women queued up outside the polling stations to cast their votes at 7 a.m.

Former Union Minister Jitin Prasad, who is contesting the polls on a Congress ticket from Tilhar cast his vote and expressed hope that the alliance with Samajwadi Party (SP) will form the next government.

Maximum voting was reported from Saharanpur and Bareilly at 11 per cent each, followed by Rampur (nine per cent) and Amroha (7.4 per cent).

Poll officials say they were "quite excited and hopeful" that the voter turnout would considerably improve than last time in 2012.

Voting is being held for 67 seats, spread across 11 districts. Of these 52 are in Rohailkhand,the northwestern part which has a large number of Muslim population.

In the last assembly elections in 2012, voting for the same seats had recorded 60 per cent polling, which is expected to increase, an EC official told IANS.

In the 2012 polls Amroha had recorded 69.40 per cent, Budayun (61.35), Bareilly (65.09), Bijnore (64.47), Lakhimpur Kheri (64.38), Moradabad (64.37), Pilibhit (68.33), Rampur (60.47), Sambhal (64.15), Saharanpur (71.34) and Shahjahanpur (64.98).

The first round of voting in Uttar Pradesh took place on February 11.

--IANS

md/in