Uttar Pradesh Assembly election: First phase of polling ends with over 60% voter turnout

Shamli logged the highest voter turnout with 69.42 per cent in the first phase of UP polls.

Pic Courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: The first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh concluded at 6 pm on Thursday (February 10) with a voter turnout of over 60 per cent. 

The polling was held across 58 assembly constituencies in 11 districts of the Jat-dominant belt of western Uttar Pradesh.

On technical snags in EVMs reported at some places, Additional Chief Election Officer (ACEO) B D Ram Tiwari said, "There were reports of a technical error in EVMs at some places", adding that they were replaced as the reports came in, PTI reported. 

Shamli logged the highest voter turnout with 69.42 per cent. 

Final voter turnout in 11 districts 

Agra             60.33%

Aligarh        60.49%

Baghpat       61.35%

 Bulandshahr  60.52%

Gautam Buddh Nagar 56.73%

Ghaziabad       54.77%

Hapur             60.50%

Mathura       63.28%

Meerut          60.91%

 Muzaffarnagar 65.34%

Shamli            69.42%

During the 2017 UP assembly elections, these constituencies had recorded 63.47 per cent polling. The BJP had bagged 53 of the 58 seats in the region, while the Samajwadi Party and the BSP had got two seats each and one seat was won by the Rashtriya Lok Dal in 2017 polls. 

Meanwhile, the first phase will decide the fate of as many as 623 candidates, including 73 women. UP ministers who are in the fray in this phase include Shrikant Sharma, Suresh Rana, Sandeep Singh, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Atul Garg and Chowdhury Lakshmi Narain.

Samajwadi Party`s Sunil Chaudhary contested against Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj Singh from Noida constituency. Congress leader Pankhuri Pathak and BSP leader Kriparam Sharma were also in the fray from the same seat. The second phase polling for 55 Assembly Constituencies is slated for February 14 that will decide the fate of 586 candidates. 

The seventh phase of polling for UP polls will take place on March 7. The counting of votes will be done on March 10.

(With agency inputs)