Voting picks up in Uttar Pradesh (Third Lead)

Voting picked up in the afternoon in most of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh where polling was underway Wednesday.

Officials said 36 percent of the electorate had voted by afternoon.

Balloting in Lucknow was brisk since morning and touched 22.5 percent by noon that could lead to a record turnout, officials told IANS.

In the 2009 general elections, only 35 percent of the electorate had cast their votes.

This time, however, hundreds of voters were seen standing at polling stations, braving the scorching sun.

Heavy polling has been reported in Kanpur where Bharatiya Janata Party's senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi and Union Coal Minister Prakash Jaiswal are locked in a direct contest.

Joshi told reporters that he was happy that people were turning out in large numbers to vote. He said voters in Kanpur had decided to reject the Congress.

Officials told IANS that they had received complaints from Navva behad polling station that SP workers intimidated voters, forcing them to vote for their party. When a paramilitary trooper intervened, he was thrashed by Samajwadi Party workers.

In five villages, including Purwa Panwari, Dariyapur and Rigvana Khurd in Hamirpur district, voters boycotted the polls and not a single vote was cast.

District officials tried to persuade them, but the residents did not relent.