Around 56 percent of the 1.41 crore voters exercised their franchise till 4 pm on Wednesday in the seventh and last phase of Uttar Pradesh elections covering 40 Assembly seats spread over seven districts.
Polling started amidst tight security arrangements this morning and gained momentum as the day advanced.
All eyes are on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, where the voter turnout stood at 45 percent while the Naxal-hit Mirzapur saw 47.50 percent polling till pm, the Election Commission said. Three Naxal-affected districts of Sonbhadra, Mirzapur and Chandauli, along with the five Assembly segments under Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, are in prime focus.
Tight security has been put in place in these districts. Ghazipur, Jaunpur and Bhadoi are the other districts where polling is underway in this phase.
In Jaunpur, BJP candidate from Jafarabad seat Harendra Pratap Singh and four others were arrested for allegedly carrying voters to polling booths in two vehicles. Singh, however, denied the charge.
Polling will conclude at 5 pm in all constituencies, except Naxal-hit Duddhi, Robertsganj and Chakia seats, where it ended at 4 pm. The counting of votes polled in all the seven phases of the Assembly polls will take place on March 11.
Among the voters in this phase polling, 64.76 lakh are women. 14,458 polling booths and 8,682 polling centres were set up for Wednesday's exercise which will decide fate of 585 candidates, including 51 women.
The BJP is contesting 32 seats and its allies – the Apana Dal and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party – are contesting on four seats each. The Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) has fielded its nominees for all seats. While the Samajwadi Party (SP) is contesting 31 seats, its ally the Congress is in the race for the remaining seats.
In the 2012 state Assembly polls, out of these 40 seats, 23 went to the SP, 5 to the BSP, 4 to the BJP, 3 to the Congress and 5 to others.
In all, 535 candidates, including BSP (40), BJP (32), SP (31), Cong (9), RLD 21, and NCP (5) are in the fray.
While the maximum number of 24 candidates are from Varanasi Cantt seat, the minimum number of 6 candidates are contesting from Kerakat (SC).
Prominent candidates who are in fray include former Cabinet minister Om Prakash, Parasnath Yadav, Ajay Rai, former MP Dhananjay Singh, Sigbatullah Ansari, brother of Mukhtar Ansari, and Seema Singh wife of jailed mafia Munna Bajrangi. The turnout on these seats in 2012 was 57.92 per cent in 2012 Assembly polls.
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