Pollings peaceful in Uttar Pradesh

Polling for 11 parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh began peacefully at 7 a.m. Thursday, marking the second phase of elections in the state.

The state recorded 11.7 percent voter turnout till 9 a.m., authorities said.

Five villages in Pilibhit parliamentary constituency boycotted the election.

Over 1.85 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes for 150 candidates from various national and regional parties as well as those who are contesting as independents.

People will cast their votes through 22,346 electronic voting machines (EVMs) at 18,910 polling centres.

There are 17 woman contestants in fray, prominent being former union minister Maneka Gandhi.

As many as 3,206 polling stations have been declared as sensitive and 3,366 digital cameras and 565 video cameras have been installed at 447 polling stations for webcasting of the polling process, chief electoral officer (CEO) Uttar Pradesh Umesh Sinha told IANS.

The biggest parliamentary constituency in this phase of polling is Shahjahanpur where the number of voters is 19.78 lakhs while the smallest constituency is Nagina with a total number of voters being 14.92 lakhs. Nearly two lakh security personnel have been deployed.

Polling in the state's 80 Lok Sabha constituencies will be completed in six phases, which includes the first phase April 10. The remaining phases are April 17, 24, 30 and May 7 and 12.

The first phase of polling, where balloting took place in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies, saw a voter turnout of 64.96 percent.