50 pc electorate cast their vote till 3 pm in UP

Brisk polling was recorded in eight parliamentary constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls Thursday, with an estimated 50 per cent voter turnout till 3 pm, an official said.

Despite hot weather conditions, voters turned out in large numbers and polling was going on peacefully, an official of the state election department said here.

Three Union ministers -- V K Singh (Ghaziabad), Satyapal Singh (Baghpat) and Mahesh Sharma (Gautam Buddha Nagar) -- are in the fray in the first leg of the seven-phase polls.

According to the Election Commission, the average voters turnout till 3 pm was 50.86 per cent.

Saharanpur recorded 54.18 per cent polling, Kairana 52.40 per cent, Muzaffarnagar 50.60 per cent, Bijnor 50.80 per cent, Meerut 51 per cent, Baghpat 51.20 per cent, Ghaziabad 47 per cent and Gautam Buddh Nagar 49.72 per cent.

The BJP had won all the eight seats in 2014 Lok Sabha elections but lost Kairana seat in a by-poll held later.

Joint Chief Electoral Officer Ramesh Chandra Rai said there was no report of any impersonation, bogus voting, obstruction to polling or violence from anywhere in these constituencies,