Lucknow, Feb 10 : Staggered elections to pick five state assemblies across the country began in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday with over 20 per cent of 2.28 crore voters exercising their franchise in four hours across 58 seats spread over 11 districts. The Election Commission reported peaceful balloting in the sprawling state’s western belt bordering Delhi where the main contest is between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the combine of the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). After a slow start in the first two hours till 9 am, when just eight per cent of the electorate had turned out, the momentum picked up as thousands of men and women made it to the polling stations after the sun peeped out to give a respite from the winter chill and fog.
The electronic voting machines broke down in some places and were quickly set right. As the polling began, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted: “Not voting for BJP will make UP like J&K, Bengal.” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi instead appealed to the people to “vote and free the country from fear”. The Samajwadi Party alleged that voters who are poor were being intimidated and shooed away from polling booths in Kairana in Shamli. RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary will not vote in Mathura on Thursday due to an election rally in Bijnore, his office said.
The BJP immediately attacked him, asking: “What message is he sending?” Most of the initial voting took place in urban areas but people poured out of their homes in rural areas too as the hours progressed. Till 11 am, Shamli recorded 22.83 per cent of voting, Muzaffarnagar 22.65, Meerut 18.54, Baghpat 22.30, Ghaziabad 18.23, Hapur 22.80, Gautam Buddh Nagar 19.23, Bulandshahr 21.62, Aligarh 17.91, Mathura 20.73 and Agra 20.30 per cent. That voting picked up after two hours was clear as till 9 am Meerut had cast only 6 per cent votes, Bulandshahr 7.34, Mathura 8.36, Shamli, Ghaziabad and Hapur 8 per cent each, Agra 8.1, Gautam Buddh Nagar 8.33, Baghpat 8.93 and Aligarh 8.36 per cent. Polling will continue till 6 pm.
According to the Election Commission, voting is taking place in 25,800 polling booths spread across 10,883 polling centers in Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Hathras. A total of 623 candidates, including 73 women, are in the fray on Thursday. They include nine ministers of the Yogi Adityanath government. They are Shrikant Sharma from Mathura, Atul Garg from Ghaziabad, Suresh Rana from Thana Bhawan, Kapil Dev Agarwal from Muzaffarnagar, Sandeep Singh from Atrauli, Chaudhary Laxmi Narain from Chhata, Anil Sharma from Shikarpur, G S Dharmesh from Agra Cantt and Dinesh Khatik from Hastinapur. In 2017, out of the 58 seats where polling is being held, the BJP had won a staggering 53, the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) two each and the RLD one seats. To breach BJP’s fort in western Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party and RLD have forged an alliance.
There is a straight contest between the BJP and SP-RLD alliance on around three dozen seats whereas there are triangular fights on nearly two dozen seats involving the BJP, SP and BSP. Most pundits feel that it will be no easy task for the BJP to repeat its 2017 showing, particularly in view of the prolonged farmers’ agitation that gripped almost the whole of western Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has denied ticket to 19 sitting MLAs and fielded fresh faces. While the SP is contesting on 28 seats, the RLD has fielded candidates in 29 others. The Anupshahr seat has been given to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Sharad Pawar. The alliance has fielded new faces on 43 seats. While the BSP has given ticket to 14 Muslims, the SP-RLD alliance has fielded 12 Muslims.
All political parties have made efforts to manage the Jat equation. Former Governor Baby Rani Maurya is contesting from Agra rural, BJP leader Sangeet Som is contesting from Sardhana and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh is in the fray from Noida. Major opposition leaders in this phase include Pankaj Mallik of SP from Charthawal, former minister Shahid Manjoor from Kithore, Avatar Singh Bhadana of RLD from Jewar and Madan Bhaiyya from Loni. Elections will also take place in Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur and over six more phases in Uttar Pradesh. The votes will be counted on March 10.
