About 49.3 per cent voters cast their votes in bypolls to nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday with Ghaziabad logging just 33 per cent. The state had recorded an overall turnout of 61.03 per cent in the 2022 assembly polls.
Voting started at 7 am in Katehari, Karhal, Mirapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki seats and continued till 5 pm. According to the Election Commission, the approximate voter turnout till 5 pm was 49. 3 per cent.
The voter turnout in Ghaziabad was 33.3 per cent, Katehari (56.9 per cent), Khair (46.3 per cent), Kundarki (57.7 per cent), Karhal (54.1 per cent), Majhawan (50.41 per cent), Meerapur (57.1 per cent), Phulpur (43.43 per cent) and Shisamau (49.1 per cent).
The elderly, young and even physically-challenged people were seen at the polling stations since morning amid heavy security deployment in all constituencies. Meanwhile, the Election Commission, acting on complaints by the Samajwadi Party, has ordered the suspension of police personnel for violating its guidelines on checking of voters and stopping them from casting votes in the bypolls.
At least four cops on poll duty were suspended in Kanpur and Muzaffarnagar, according to officials. In Moradabad, an unknown number of personnel on traffic duty were shunted, they said.
SP complains to EC
The Samajwadi Party claimed that in some places the police personnel were checking the IDs of people and deterring them from voting. The BJP has also sought the intervention of the EC for checking identity of burqa-wearing women voters, claiming their IDs did not match with their faces.
While eight seats fell vacant following the incumbent MLAs' election to the Lok Sabha, polling in Sisamau is being conducted due to Samajwadi Party lawmaker Irfan Solanki's disqualification from the assembly after his conviction in a criminal case.
This is the first electoral contest in the state after the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress is not contesting these bypolls and has lent support to the Samajwadi Party, its INDIA bloc ally. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting on all nine seats solo.
According to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), more than 34.35 lakh voters — of whom 15.88 lakh are women — were eligible to exercise their franchise. Ninety candidates are in the fray for the bypolls. Ghaziabad has the most candidates in the fray with 14, followed by Khair and Sisamau with five each.
