58 pc voter turnout recorded on eight western UP seats in first phase of LS polls

    Lucknow, Apr 19 (PTI) About 58 per cent voter turnout was recorded on eight seats of western Uttar Pradesh where polling took place in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday.
    According to the Election Commission's Voter Turnout app, 63.29 per cent voting was reported in Saharanpur, 57.83 per cent in Moradabad, 60.39 per cent in Kairana, 59.17 per cent in Nagina, 60.23 per cent in Pilibhit, 54.68 per cent in Bijnor, 52.42 per cent in Rampur and 54.91 per cent in Muzaffarnagar.
    These seats fall in the Jat and sugarcane belt of the state.
    The election authorities said 57.90 per cent of the electorate cast their votes.
    "Voting at most of the polling stations in the state was completed by 6 pm. Exact polling figures along with comparative figures of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls will be given on Saturday. The polling was completely peaceful and no information of any untoward incident was received," Uttar Pradesh's Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa told reporters.
    Rinwa also said that 50 ballot units, 50 control units and 152 VVPATs were changed till 5 pm following complaints from various districts.
    People in some areas of Pilibhit district announced a poll boycott as a protest against the lack of civic amenities. The residents of Purana village, located in the Barkheda Police station limits, said they would not vote in protest against the absence of a bridge in the area.
    Residents of Dahgala, Bakshpur and nearby villages boycotted voting as the road leading to the villages through the officers' colony has allegedly been blocked.
    In the Neuria area of the district, some villagers initially said they would not vote as they were aggrieved over the issue of man-animal conflict. They alleged that tigers from the adjoining Pilibhit Tiger Reserve venture out of the forest and kill villagers but nothing has been done by the administration to prevent such incidents.
    Pilibhit District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh said, "We received information that some villagers are boycotting the polls over local issues. The officials concerned visited these villages and spoke to them."
    Following assurances from the local administration, the villagers visited the polling stations to vote.
    Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party candidate Harendra Singh Malik alleged booth capturing in a village in Muzaffarnagar district and urged the Election Commission to deploy paramilitary personnel there.
    The former Rajya Sabha MP shared a letter on social media that he addressed to the chief election commissioner in Delhi demanding that paramilitary personnel be sent to Kutba Kutbi, the village of BJP candidate Sanjeev Balyan, alleging "booth capturing" by "agents" of the saffron party.
    "Sir, I am the Samajwadi Party candidate from the Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha constituency. In Kutba Kutbi village of BJP candidate Sanjeev Balyan, booth capturing is being done by BJP agents and voters are being beaten up and sent away without casting their votes," Malik wrote in Hindi.
    However, District Election Officer Aravind Mallappa Bangari denied the allegation.
    Farmer leader and national president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Naresh Tikait hit out at the BJP over its claim of winning more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections and said, "People are not very excited about the polls."
    "If they (BJP) are saying 400, then what is the need for them to contest elections? It is special that they can perceive this in advance. Do they have any astrologer who has predicted that this is going to happen?" Tikait posed while speaking to PTI Video.
    The national president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Naresh Tikait did not cast his vote. Speaking to reporters in Sisauli, he said that he did so to maintain a non-political status.
    However, BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait cast his vote in Muzaffarnagar.
    He told PTI Video, "People should exercise their voting rights given to us by the Constitution. You are staging demonstrations and feel sad. Even then you should cast your vote. Do not press the NOTA button."
    In most polling stations, people queued up to cast their vote in the morning. A bride was seen reaching the polling station in her wedding dress. As the day progressed, the queues thinned out a bit but some people were seen reaching polling centres wearing scarfs and holding umbrellas to beat the heat.
    Senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi cast his vote in Rampur and said, "We have to take forward the journey of PM Narendra Modi in taking the country towards development."
    Other prominent BJP leaders who exercised their voting rights included UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary in Moradabad, state Cabinet minister Anil Kumar in Bijnor, minister of state of independent charge Kapil Dev Agarwal in Muzaffarnagar and Union Minister Sanjeev Kumar Balyan in Muzaffarnagar.
    A total of 80 candidates -- 73 men and seven women -- are in the fray in the first phase. The prominent candidates in this phase of polling include the BJP's Jitin Prasada from Pilibhit, Union Minister Balyan from Muzaffarnagar and Azad Samaj Party chief Chandra Shekhar Azad from Nagina.
    The ruling BJP has joined hands with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), while the SP has allied with the Congress in this election. The Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to go solo.
    According to the Election Commission, 1.43 crore people are eligible to cast their votes in this phase. Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said voting is underway at 14,849 polling booths.
    To ensure fool-proof security, 6,018 inspectors and sub-inspectors, 35,750 constables and 24,992 home guard personnel, along with 60 companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary and 220 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces, have been deployed.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)