UP Election: Voting for sixth phase ends, 54% voter turnout recorded

Over 53 per cent voter turnout was registered till 5 p.m. in the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the Election Commission of India said on Thursday. The Election Commission also said that 53.31 per cent of voter turnout figure was an approximate trend as the data from some polling stations takes time to reach.

The seventh and final phase of Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh has 28 per cent criminal candidates. According to an analysis report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), out of 607 candidates in the final phase, 170 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits. Of these, 131 candidates have serious criminal cases against them.
The Samajwadi Party is again leading the list of criminal candidates with 26 out of 45 candidates having a criminal background.

Over 2.14 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the sixth phase where a total of 676 candidates are in the fray.

Over 46 per cent voter turnout was registered till 3 p.m. in the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The Election Commission also said that 46.70 percent of voter turnout figure was an approximate trend as the data from some polling stations takes time to reach.

36.33% voters turnout recorded till 1 pm during ongoing polling across 10 districts in the sixth phase

UP records 36.33 per cent voting till 1 pm 

UP records 21.79 per cent voting till 9 am 

"When BJP can make an ordinary Chaiwala's son as the PM, then the party can make the son of a Nishad anything," says Sanjay Nishad, founder, Nishad Party on being asked about his chances of getting a cabinet post if BJP comes to power in Uttar Pradesh

"We will win all 9 seats in Gorakhpur mandal. Voter turnout will be historic in Purvanchal region. BJP will get over 300 seats. The construction of Ram Temple is underway. Now, the people UP have decided to establish 'Ram Rajya' here," says BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Ravi Kishan

"Voting is underway peacefully across all 10 districts in the state. EVM related complaints are being immediately addressed," says Additional Chief Electoral Officer, BD Ram Tiwari, at Lucknow

UP records 8.69 per cent voting till 9 am 

Polling for the sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh elections, on 57 assembly seats across 10 districts begins

• Over 1.5 lakh security personnel will be deployed in this phase covering 57 assembly seats in 10 districts, where 2.1 crore people are eligible to vote
• Nine assembly constituencies - Gorakhpur City, Bansi, Etawah, Dumariaganj, Ballia Nagar, Phephna Bairia, Sikanderpur and Bansdih - have been kept in the sensitive category
• A total of 824 majras and localities have been marked as vulnerable, while 2,962 polling places have been considered as critical
• A total of 109 Pink Booths (women booths) have been made to specially motivate women to vote
• Nineteen women inspectors or sub-inspectors besides 259 women constables or head constables have been deployed in these booths
• All 13,930 polling stations will be covered by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) for the successful conduct of the polling in the sixth phase, for which 850 companies of CAPF have been received
• The total strength, 797 CAPF companies will be engaged for booth duty while 44 deployed for law and order duties. Of the total, six CAPF companies will be deployed for duty at 115 international/inter-state barrier points of UP
• 6,783 inspectors and sub-inspectors of UP police, 57,550 head constables along with 17 companies of PAC, 46,236 home-guards have been deployed for election duty

Voting will be held at 13,930 polling stations and 25,319 polling booths under 179 police station areas, the UP police said in a statement

Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh Ajay Kumar Shukla said the campaign for the sixth phase ended at 6 pm on Tuesday and all preparations for voting have been completed.

Of the total 57, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dominated the seats in this belt in the last assembly elections in 2017. BJP won 46 seats while Apna Dal won one seat. Samajwadi Party (SP) won only two seats, while Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won 5 seats. Congress and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) won 1 seat respectively.

The prominent faces in the fray in this phase are

• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (Gorakhpur Urban)
• Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi (Pathardeva)
• Education Minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi (Itwa)
• Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh (Bansi)
• State Minister Shree Ram Chauhan (Khajani)
• State Minister Jai Prakash Nishad (Rudrapur)
• The Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded the wife of late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader, against Adityanath
• State Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu is contesting from Tamkuhi Raj constituency in Kushinagar district
• Swami Prasad Maurya, who had left the BJP to join the SP weeks ahead of the polls is a candidate from Fazilnagar in Kushinagar district
• Leader of Opposition in the state assembly and senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary is in the fray from Bansdih from Ballia district

A total of 2,14,62,816 voters including 1,14,63,113 males, 99,98,383 females and 1,320 third genders are expected to exercise their right to franchise to seal the fate of 676 candidates.

The maximum numbers of candidates are in Tulsipur, Gorakhpur Rural and Padrauna and the least are in Salempur.

The seats which are going to polls are Katehari, Tanda, Alapur (SC), Jalalpur, Akbarpur, Tulsipur, Gainsari, Utraula, Balrampur (SC), Shohratgarh, Kapilvastu (SC), Bansi, Itwa, Domariyaganj, Harraiya, Kaptanganj, Rudhauli, Basti Sadar, Mahadewa (SC), Menhdawal, Khalilabad, Dhanghata (SC), Pharenda, Nautanwa, Siswa, Maharajganj (SC), Paniyra, Caimpiyarganj, Pipraich, Gorakhpur Urban, Gorakhpur Rural, Sahajanwa, Khajani (SC), Chauri-Chaura, Bansgaon (SC), Chillupar, Khadda, Padrauna, Tamkuhi Raj, Fazilnagar, Kushinagar, Hata, Ramkola (SC), Rudrapur, Pathardeva, Rampur Karkhana, Bhatpar Rani, Salempur (SC), Barhaj, Belthara Road, Rasra, Sikandarpur, Phephna, Ballia Nagar, Bansdih and Bairiya.

The ten districts going to the polls in the sixth phase are Gorakhpur, Ambedkarnagar, Ballia, Balrampur, Basti, Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar and Siddharthnagar.