The UP assembly election took off to a flying start on Wednesday as an impressive turnout of over 62 per cent was recorded in the first phase of polling for 55 seats in 10 districts. Stakes are high for the ruling BSP in this region of Oudh and eastern UP where it is facing a tough challenge from the Samajwadi Party. This area is dominated by backwards and Dalits and as such political observers feel it may have witnessed a tough battle between the SP and the BSP. Keen political watchers also feel that the high rate of turnout could affect the BSP’s prospects while benefiting its rivals, the SP, the BJP and the Congress.
The polling was rather slow in the morning owing to bad weather, cold and rain in this area. Election Commission officials here looked worried and were not expecting a turnout of even 50 per cent. However, the voting picked up around midday as the skies cleared. At the end of the day, 62 to 64 per cent of the 1.7 crore-strong electorate had voted.
“It was an incident-free day,” chief electoral officer Umesh Sinha told reporters. Reports of violence or any kind of disturbances were negligible, he added.
The first phase of elections for the 403-member assembly will decide the fate of two ministers, 31 MLAs and 15 former ministers. A total of 862 candidates were in the fray, including 796 men, 65 women and a eunuch (in Ayodhya).
Long queues of voters were seen at polling booths in several areas in late afternoon. “The biggest problem was that of rain in the initial hours, but later the response from the electorate was good,” Sinha said.Amidst complaints of EVM malfunctioning, a lower turnout was registered in Bahraich district, officials said.
In Gonda, nearly 800 voters boycotted poll process at a booth in Mehnaun assembly seat to protest shifting of the polling station three km from the village.
In the 2007 assembly polls, the BSP had bagged 30 of these 55 seats and retaining them would be a tough challenge for the party hit by controversies due to corruption cases.
The SP is also under pressure to perform in these areas to increase its tally from 18 seats last time.
For the BJP, which has talked about “Ramrajya”, its performance had not been up to the mark in past elections despite Faizabad and Ayodhya falling in this phase.
The Congress, which had won a meagre three seats in the last polls, is banking on charisma of Rahul Gandhi.
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