Lucknow, Feb 23: Polling for the fourth phase in Uttar Pradesh, which mostly constitutes the Awadh region, witnessed a slow pace as only 9.10 per cent of the 2.13 crore eligible voters exercised their rights in the first two hours on Wednesday. The poll panel official gave the details of votes cast till 9 am for 59 seats spread over nine districts that was overall peaceful amid tight security. Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.
As per a report from Chief Electoral Officer’s office, maximum 10.46 per cent votes were polled in Pilibhit district, whereas only 8.03 per cent polling was registered in Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, where her daughter and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi did some massive canvassing. Lakhimpur Kheri, which is one of the focal point in this phase after the farmers killing involving the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, witnessed 10.43 per cent votes. There was 9.59 per cent voting in Sitapur, 8.14 per cent in Hardoi, 9.26 per cent in Unnao. Capital constituency Lucknow saw 8.06 per cent polling, while it was 8.81 per cent in Banda and 9.69 per cent in Fatehpur.
Among prominent candidates in this phase, Uttar Pradesh Law Minister Brijesh Pathak is facing Samajwadi party candidate and two-time corporator Surendra Singh Gandhi on the Lucknow Cantonment seat. BJP’s candidate from Hardoi, Nitin Agarwal, exuded confidence after casting his vote. “I am confident that BJP will win all 8 seats of Hardoi. In every phase, BJP’s lead is increasing and we will form the govt with more than 300 seats,” he told the media. The Election Commission is conducting re-polling at the Jaswantpur booth in Mainpuri district’s Karhal on Wednesday following complaints of “bogus voting, impersonation, and booth capturing” made by BJP candidate and Union Minister SP Singh Baghel. Baghel is pitted against SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. The constituency went to poll on Sunday. CEO Ajay Kumar Shukla said there are 624 candidates, 91 women in the fray. Polling is being held at 24,643 polling booths of 13,817 polling stations. “In this phase 590 hamlets and localities have been identified as vulnerable and 3,393 polling booths have been marked as critical,” Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said, adding three assembly constituencies Hussainganj, Bindki and Fatehpur have been categorised as sensitive.
