Over 47 per cent turnout in UP bypolls

Over 47 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the bypolls to 11 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

Polling began at 7 am amid tight security, officials said.

Gangoh in Saharanpur district saw the highest turnout with about 60.30 per cent voters exercising their franchise.

In Lucknow Cantonment, only 28.53 per cent of eligible people cast their vote.

Polling was by and large peaceful in the state and there were no report of any untoward incident, they said.

According to the office of the UP Chief Electoral Officer, among the other constituencies, Jalalpur witnessed 58.80 per cent polling followed by Zaidpur (58), Manikpur (52.10), Balha (52), Ghosi (51), Rampur (44), Pratapgarh (44), Iglas (36.20) and Govindnagar (32.60).

Polling was held up for a couple of hours after an electronic voting machine (EVM) developed a snag at booth number 350 in Salhipur, a report from Pratapgarh said.

District Information Officer Vijay Kumar said the EVM was replaced and the voting had started.

Of the 11 seats, eight were earlier held by the BJP and one by its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal).

The seats of Rampur and Jalalpur (Ambedkarnagar) were held by the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, respectively.

The BJP, the BSP, the SP and the Congress have fielded their candidates on all seats.

According to the office of the UP Chief Electoral Officer, 109 candidates were in the fray for the bypolls.

The by-elections were necessitated after some of the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha and resigned as members of the state assembly.

The Ghosi assembly seat fell vacant following the resignation of sitting MLA Phagu Chauhan after he was appointed as the Governor of Bihar. PTI NAV SAB
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