Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

The first phase of Uttar Pradesh civic polls was held on 22 Nov and over 52 percent voting was recorded. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s constituency, Amethi recorded the highest turnout of 68.44 percent and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath‘s bastion Gorakhpur registered the lowest voting.

UP civic polls are to be held in three phases, of which in the first phase, 24 districts faced the polls. The next two phases will be held on 26 and 29 Nov and the counting for all three phases will be done on 1 Dec.

According to the Uttar Pradesh election commission, the polling percentage for the first phase was 52.85 percent, around 6% more than compared to the 2012 polls, when these 24 districts recorded 46.1 percent voting.

The highest voting was registered in Hamirpur, which witnessed 69.59 percent turnout, followed by Amethi which saw 68.44 percent polling and the lowest was in Gorakhpur with 39.23 percent turnout.

State Election Commissioner SK Agarwal in his statement to the reporters stated that “Polling was absolutely peaceful. Webcasting, usage of CCTV cameras and intense monitoring were done to ensure a peaceful poll. Re-polling has been ordered in a polling booth in Badaun, while a case has been registered against an Independent candidate for violation of the model code of conduct in Shamli. Two EVMs were replaced each in Meerut and Kanpur.”

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath cast his ballot at the polling centre in Kanya Primary Pathshala in ward number 68 in old Gorakhpur. After exercising his franchise and before leaving for Varanasi and Allahabad for campaigning for the remaining phases of the elections, Adityanath claimed that “The BJP will register a massive victory in these elections…The BJP candidates will win on all the seats.”

Though the State Election Commissioner claimed that polling went off peacefully, some incidents were recorded in Merrut. Protests broke out at a polling booth in ward number 89 in Meerut. The voters alleged that no matter which button they pressed, the EVMs recorded the votes only for BJP candidates.

Tasleem Ahmad a voter who claims to have voted for BSP, but the machine recorded the vote going to BJP. According to the news reports in a video, Tasleem alleged that “I voted for the BSP candidate. I am still holding the pressed button. The machine has recorded my vote as having gone to BJP. I have been waiting here for an hour, but no solution has been provided so far.”

Similar, incidents were reported in Meerut’s Dhawai Nagar area, Kanpur’s ward number 58 Tiwaripur and ward number 104 Mani Ram Bagia. The voters complained that LED lights against the BJP and NOTA symbol flashed on the EVM when he cast his vote for BSP.”

Many voters who were standing in long ques waiting to cast their votes were agitated as there was a delay in the process, due to technical glitches in EVM machines.

However, additional State Election Commissioner Ved Prakash Verma denied all the allegations telling they were false. Meerut additional district magistrate Mukesh Kumar claimed that the EVMs that were having some technical problems were immediately replaced.

These civic polls is a litmus test for Chief Minister and his government, as the result of these elections will show the mood of the people towards BJP and the emerging Hindutva face of BJP, Yogi Adityanath.

The results for all three phases will be announced on 1 Dec.