UP Elections 2017: 60.37% turnout in Phase-IV of polls

Fifty-three Assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh (UP) went to polls on Thursday in the fourth phase of the state elections, recording a voter turnout of 60.37 per cent. The Assembly constituencies covered seven districts of water-starved Bundelkhand and five districts of the Doab region. Chief Election Officer T Venkatesh told journalists at Lucknow that the voter turnout will turn out to be much more as the State Election Commission was still assessing the total number of voters.

The phase had many heavyweights in the fray, and also included the Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough of Raebareli, which is the Lok Sabha seat of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress's prestige is at stake in Raebareli where, in a first since 1998, Sonia gave campaigning a miss this time. She, however, did send a "personal note" to the locals a few days ago, requesting them to support Congress candidates. Political observers say Raebareli might not be a cakewalk for Congress candidates this time around in view of Sonia's absence and intense campaigning by other political parties.

The other districts that went to polls in this phase are Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur,Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur. There were a total of 680 candidates and though the regions in this phase are plagued by poverty, 189 of the 680 candidates (28 per cent) are crorepatis.

The pace of voting was slow in the first few hours, but picked up as the day advanced. The voting process in this phase was not as peaceful as compared to the three earlier phases. There were incidents of violence in the Mahoba constituency. BSP and SP supporters reportedly clashed at a polling booth and both sides even exchanged gunfire. SP candidate Siddh Gopal Sahu suffered an injury and had to be hospitalised.

Allahabad district, which has the most number of Assembly seats (12), did not witness the expected turnout despite several arrangements made by the State Election Commission to encourage people to vote. The district, where polling booths had first-of-its-kind selfie counters, sweet shops and other attractions like certificates for first-time voters, saw a mere 54.48 per cent turnout. The district where the highest number of people exercised their franchise was Lalitpur, which saw a voter turnout of 74.43 per cent.

In the 2012 polls, out of the 53 seats in this phase, the SP had won 24, BJP five, BSP 15 and the Congress six seats, while 'others' had won three.

The prominent contestants in this phase were sitting MLA Aradhana Mishra from Rampur Khas (Pratapgarh), the daughter of Congress MP Pramod Tiwari, and independent MLA and minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who is again contesting from his traditional Kunda (Pratapgarh) seat. Congress candidate Aditi Singh was also among the heavyweights in this phase. Singh, the daughter of five-time MLA Akhilesh Kumar Singh, contested from Raebareli. BSP turncoat Swami Prasad Maurya's son Utkarsh Maurya was in the fray from the Unchahar seat, while Leader of the Opposition Gaya Charan Dinkar contested from the Naraini (Banda) seat. Senior SP leader Reoti Raman Singh's son Ujjwal Raman Singh fought from the Karchana (Allahabad) seat. BJP National Secretary Siddharth Nath Singh contested from Allahabad West. Singh is the grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Of the three phases that have already gone to polls, the third phase recorded a 61-per cent turnout, the second phase a 65-per cent turnout and the first phase a 64-per cent turnout.

The next phase of polling will take place on February 27, across 52 constituencies in 11 districts, including in the Congress party bastion of Amethi.