Express News Service
LUCKNOW: The first phase of UP elections covering 58 constituencies across 11 districts of western UP consisting of the Jat belt, witnessed a moderate turnout of 60.17 per cent on Thursday. However, the voters’ turn out in first phase of the current elections is slightly lower than 63.52 percent of 2017 Assembly polls.
Meanwhile, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary, the alliance partner of Samajwadi Party, failed to cast his vote as he was away campaigning in Bijnore which will go to polls on February 14.
In the first phase, of 58 seats up for grabs across Shamli, Muzaffar Nagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra, 53 were bagged by the ruling BJP, two each by SP and BSP and RLD could get just one seat of Chhaprauli, the stronghold of former PM and farmers icon late Chaudhary Charan Singh.
The district which locked highest percentage of voting in first phase was Shamli with 69.42 per cent (67.76% in 2017) and the district which registered the lowest polling percentage was Ghaziabad with 54.77 per cent. In 2017 also, Ghaziabad had recorded the lowest (55.80%) voters’ turn out in the first phase.
Besides, Shamli, the other Jat-dominated districts including Muzaffarnagar registered 65.34%, Meerut 60.91%, Baghpat 61.35%, Hapur 60.50%, Bulandshahr 60.52%, Aligarh 60.49%, Mathura with maximum Jat population registered 63.28% and Agra 60.33 % voters’ turn out.
Even the voters’ turnout in Gautam Budh Nagar, the NCR district, was below moderate at 56.73 per cent. In 2017, GB Nagar had recordedthe same (56.86%) turn out.
In phase 1, which went off peacefully, fate of total 623 candidates of which 73 were women candidates, was sealed in the EVMS. Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary, the alliance partner of Samajwadi Party, failed to cast his vote as he was away campaigning in Bijnore which will go to polls on February 14.
Chaudhary is a registered as a voter in Mathura constituency, which went to polls in the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.
“I am a voter of Mathura. Right now, we are in Bijnor as there are just two days remaining for campaigning between the first and second rounds of the Uttar Pradesh polls. My wife voted in the morning. After campaigning ends here, I will try to vote at booths open till 6 PM,” RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary said.
Around 2.28 crore voters of which 1.24 crore were men and 1.04 crore were women who exercised their franchise to elect their favourite MLA.
The prominent names in fray in phase –I include Shrikant Sharma from Mathura, Suresh Rana from Thana Bhawan, Nahid Hassan from Kairana, Sangeet Som from Sardhana, Pankaj Singh from Noida, Sandeep Singh from Atrauli and Sahendra Singh Ramala from Chhaprauli.
