UP Bypolls: 38% voter turnout recorded in Phulpur, 43% in Gorakhpur till 5pm

ANI photo

Lucknow: As voting for Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypolls began on Sunday morning, all eyes are set on the triangular contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) -Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance. The voting will continue till 5 pm. 

A total of 10 candidates in the fray from Gorakhpur seat, while 22 from Phulpur. The BJP has fielded Kaushalendra Singh Patel from Phulpur and Upendra Dutt Shukla from Gorakhpur against SP's Pravin Nishad and Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel respectively. Congress candidate from Gorakhpur is Sureetha Kareem and from Phulpur is Manish Mishra.

Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats were vacated by Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya respectively who were appointed as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of the state. 

11 March 2018

17:40 IST

38 per cent voter turnout has been recorded in Phulpur while 43 per cent in Gorakhpur, till 5 pm.

16:28 IST

Voting continues for #Phulpur Lok Sabha seat by-poll. pic.twitter.com/UKCAWnf3uv

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 11, 2018

16:22 IST

26.6 per cent voter turnout has been recorded in Phulpur till 3 pm

16:20 IST

30.20 per cent voter turnout recorded in Gorakhpur while 19.20 per cent in Phulpur, till 1 pm.

11:55 IST

16.80 per cent voter turnout recorded in Gorakhpur and 12.20 per cent in Phulpur till 11 am, reports ANI

11:30 IST

#GorakhpurByPoll : Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla cast his vote in Gorakhpur pic.twitter.com/IFgo0rejTf

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 11, 2018

11:30 IST

Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla cast his vote in Gorakhpur

09:30 IST

Responding to Rahul Gandhi's comment on demonetisation, Adityanath said, "People will throw away his appeal. Wherever he goes Congress is decimated because he works with a negative mindset."

#WATCH 'People will throw away his appeal. Wherever he goes Congress is decimated because he works with a negative mindset': UP CM on Rahul Gandhi's statement saying, 'If I was PM & someone had given me a file with #Demonetisation written on it, I would've thrown it in dustbin.' pic.twitter.com/vhk1ORft1H

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 11, 2018

09:29 IST

"BJP will win both the by-polls with massive majority and on the basis of PM Modi's governance of development, 2019 election results will also be good for the BJP," said Adityanath.

BJP will win both the by-polls (#Gorakhpur & #Phulpur ) with massive majority & on the basis of PM Modi's governance of development, 2019 election results will also be good for the BJP: UP CM Yogi Adityanath pic.twitter.com/O0TY4VGfU3

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 11, 2018

08:01 IST

Gorakhpur: Visuals from a polling station as voting begins. pic.twitter.com/CsnvXiekvw

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 11, 2018

07:42 IST

Arrangements have been made for 95 critical booths

07:41 IST

A total of 4,728 VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines will also be used. VVPAT machines are used during election process to verify that the vote polled by a voter has gone to the candidate.

07:40 IST

According to the Election Commission, there 19.61 lakh voters in Phulpur parliamentary constituency, while there are 19.49 lakh voters in Gorakhpur.

07:35 IST

Gorakhpur parliamentary constituency, there are 970 polling centres and 2,141 polling booths. In Phulpur, there are 793 polling centres and 2,059 polling booths.

07:32 IST

A total of 10 candidates in the fray from Gorakhpur LS seat, while 22 candidates are contesting from Phulpur LS seat.

The BJP has fielded Kaushalendra Singh Patel from Phulpur and Upendra Dutt Shukla from Gorakhpur against SP's Pravin Nishad and Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel respectively. Sureetha Kareem is the Congress candidate from Gorakhpur. The party, which had joined hands with SP in the assembly polls held last year, has fielded Manish Mishra from Phulpur.

07:08 IST

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath casts his vote.

07:00 IST

Voting begins at 970 polling centres.