Lucknow, April 26 (UNI) Approximately 53.17 percent of more than 1.67 crore voters in Uttar Pradesh exercised their franchise in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections held amidst tight security on Friday, a poll officer said here.
In the second phase of Lok Sabha elections that will decide the fate of 91 candidates, including 10 females, from the state, poll officials said a maximum 62.36 votes were polled in Amroha, whereas in Mathura, where sitting MP Hema Malini is seeking reelection for the third term, only 47.45 percent were polled.
According to the Election Commission, 56.27 percent of votes were polled in Aligarh, 53.3 percent in Baghpat, 54.34 percent in Bulandshahr, 51.92 percent in Gautam Buddha Nagar, 48.21 percent in Ghaziabad, and 55.49 percent in Meerut.
UP's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Navdeep Rinwa, said the eight constituencies where polling was held were spread over nine districts, including Amroha, Hapur, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, and Mathura.
"The polling held at 17,704 polling booths spread over 7,797 polling centers was by and large peaceful, and no untoward incident was reported from any district," he said.
He said that around 140 complaints, mainly related to glitches in EVMS, power cuts, and slow polling, were received, and all complaints were addressed immediately. "48 ballot units, 48 control units, and 208 VVPATs were replaced during polling," he said.
The CEO said that to maintain a close vigil on the polling process, 3 special observers, 8 general observers, 5 police observers, and 12 expenditure observers were deployed. "In addition to this, 1,451 sector magistrates, 190 zonal magistrates, 222 static magistrates, and 1,500 microobservers were deployed," he said.
Police sources said that 6,841 inspectors and sub-inspectors, 39,642 head constables and constables, 28,784 home guards, 60 companies of PAC, and 239 companies of CAPF were deployed on poll duty. As a force multiplier, 5,066 village chowkidars and 105 PRD jawans were deployed.
Police sources said that 79 barriers were set up on the inter-state borders in the nine districts where polling was held in the second phase, where continuous checking was done. Continuous monitoring and vigilance were maintained by installing additional CCTV cameras.
Police sources said that 251 flying squad teams, 288 static surveillance teams, and 32 QRT teams were constituted, which are maintaining continuous vigilance and checking. "1,878 flying squad teams, 1,548 static surveillance teams, and 428 QRT teams have been constituted in all the districts of the state," they said.
It may be noted that the first and second phases of Lok Sabha polls in UP are equally crucial for all the political parties, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the INDI alliance of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Congress, and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
The most interesting contest is going on in the Meerut seat, where 'Ram' of popular television serial 'Ramayan' Arun Govil is facing a challenge from Devvrat Kumar Tyagi of BSP and former mayor Sunita Verma of SP. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in support of the BJP candidate, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath campaigned extensively in support of Arun Govil.
It may be mentioned that since 2009, Meerut has been considered a stronghold of the BJP, which is represented by Rajendra Kumar Agarwal. This time, the party has declined a ticket to Agarwal.
Film actress and sitting MP Hema Malini is seeking re-election from Mathura for the third consecutive term. She is being challenged by Mukesh Dhangar of the Congress and Suresh Singh of the BSP. But internal differences between the workers of all three parties have made things difficult for all three candidates, leading to a triangular contest for this seat.
Another seat that is witnessing an interesting contest is Amroha. Here, sitting MP and Congress candidate Kunwar Danish Ali is pitched against former MP and BJP nominee Kanwar Singh Tanwar.
Danish Ali, who won the last Lok Sabha polls on the BSP ticket, switched loyalty just before the elections and joined Congress. During an election rally in Amroha, BSP supremo Mayawati termed Danish Ali a 'betrayer'. The party has given the ticket to another Muslim face, Mujahid Ali, this time.
In Ghaziabad, which had been represented by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and current Union Minister General (retired) VK Singh since the parliamentary constituency was set up in 2009, the BJP has fielded sitting MLA Atul Garg. He is being challenged by Congress nominee Dolly Sharma.
Dolly Sharma contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket, but she lost and was placed in the third position. Here, the BSP has fielded Nand Kishore Pundir as its candidate.
The newly formed alliance between the ruling BJP and Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has been put to the test in the Baghpat seat. As a part of seat sharing, the BJP, which had won from here twice for consecutive terms, has given this seat to the RLD.
In fact, the BJP's MP from Baghpat, Satya Pal Singh, defeated RLD chief Jayant in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by a margin of more than 10,000 votes. This time, RLD's Rajkaumar Sangwan is contesting from this seat as an NDA candidate. Baghpat Sangwan is being challenged by Amarpal Sharma of SP and Praveen Bainsla of BSP.
Like Hema Malini, the BJP's sitting MP Mahesh Sharma is seeking re-election for the third consecutive term from Gautam Buddha Nagar. It is being said that sailing has been smooth for Sharma against Dr Mahendra Singh Nagar of SP and Rajendra Singh Solanki, as all five assembly seats were won by the BJP candidates in the 2022 polls, turning Gautam Buddha Nagar into a stronghold of the saffron brigade.
In Aligarh, the BJP has repeated two times sitting MP Satish Kumar Gautam against Brijendra Singh of the SP and Hitendra Kumar alias Bunty Upadhyay of the BSP. On the Bulandshahr seat, the BJP has reposed faith in two-time sitting MP Bhola Singh.
Barring 2009, the BJP has never lost a Bulandshahr Lok Sabha seat. In fact, this seat was represented by former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh after he won the election in 2004.
There were also reports of boycotts by the local residents at a few places, but it was claimed that the issue had been sorted out. Meanwhile, after visiting about half a dozen polling stations, Sugarcane Development and Sugar Mills Minister in Uttar Pradesh Lakshmi Narayan Chaudhary said that people are voting in large numbers in favor of the BJP for the good governance of Modi and Yogi, and party candidate Hema Malini will win by a record number of votes.
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