Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls: 2nd phase polling ends with 62.99% voter turnout, highest in Saharanpur

Saharanpur witnessed the highest polling in the second phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh, while Shahjahanpur recorded the lowest electoral turnout among the nine districts.

Pic Courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: The second phase of polling concluded in Uttar Pradesh on Monday (February 14) with 62.99 per cent voters' turnout, as per the Election Commission data. 

As many as 55 seats across nine districts voted today in the crucial UP Assembly polls. Saharanpur witnessed the highest polling, while Shahjahanpur recorded the lowest electoral turnout among the nine districts. 

Final voter turnout

Saharanpur            67.52%

Shahjahanpur        55.20%

Amroha                66.15%

Bareilly                58.82%

Bijnor                 62.11%

Badaun               56.83%

Moradabad         64.56%

Rampur              62.31%

Sambhal            56.88%

UP had registered a voter turnout of 62.4 percent in the first phase of the seven-phase polls on February 10. 

Around 2.02 crore voters decided the fate of 586 contestants in 55 Assembly constituencies in UP today. The key candidates in second phase polling were Suresh Kumar Khanna, Cabinet Minister for Finance, Parliamentary Affairs, Medical Education, who was fielded from Shahjahanpur, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Baldev Singh Aulakh, Azam Khan (Rampur seat) from Samajwadi Party, BJP's Gulab Devi (Chandausi), SP's Ziaur Rehman Barq (Kundarki) among others. 

In the 2017 Assembly election, out of the 55 assembly seats that went to polling in the second phase, the BJP had swept 38, SP had bagged 13 and the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) managed only two seats each. 

Meanwhile, both BJP and SP leaders made claims of fake voting at some booths, while Akhilesh Yadav's party also alleged EVM tampering but poll officials denied the charges. 

Besides UP, 40-member House Goa and 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly voted on Monday. UP has five phases left which will end on March 7. 

In the three states that voted today, more than 2.19 lakh PwD voters and 4.67 lakh people above 80 years of age were registered across 165 assembly constituencies.

The counting of votes will be done on March 10.

(With agency inputs)