57.32 Per Cent Voting Recorded In Fifth Phase Of UP Elections

Over 57 per cent polling was recorded on Sunday in the fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls for 61 seats spread across 12 districts. According to the Election Commission of India's voter turnout application, the polling percentage was 57.32. Voting ended at 6 pm.

The final polling figure will be available on Monday, an official said. Police said voting was largely peaceful, barring in Pratapgarh's Kunda seat where Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Gulshan Yadav's convoy was allegedly attacked by some people.

Party workers claimed that Yadav sustained minor injuries. Samajwadi Party state president Naresh Uttam and party national spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury have sent a written complaint to the Election Commission about the incident. The night before voting began in Gonda, SP candidate from the Colonelganj Assembly seat along with his brothers and supporters were booked for allegedly raping a woman and beating her up.

The candidate, Yogesh Pratap Singh, and others were booked on Saturday night after they allegedly barged into the residence of the woman and assaulted her and her family for "supporting the BJP". Around 2.24 crore people were eligible to vote in the fifth phase in which 692 candidates were in the fray. The Election Commission's voter turnout app showed Amethi recorded 55.86 per cent voting, Ayodhya 58.01 per cent, Bahraich 57.07 per cent, Barabanki 54.65 per cent, Chitrakoot 61.34 per cent and Gonda 56.03 per cent. Kaushambi logged 59.56 per cent polling, Pratapgarh 52.65 per cent, Prayagraj 53.77 per cent, Raebareli 56.60 per cent, Shrawasti 57.24 per cent and Sultanpur 56.42 per cent.

In 2017 Assembly elections, the average polling percentage of these districts was 58.24 per cent. In Prayagraj's Allapur, 78-year-old Bhuri Pathak, suffering from hip fracture, went to the polling station in an ambulance to exercise her franchise. Her son claimed that she never missed voting in an election. With the completion of the fifth phase of polling, Uttar Pradesh has now voted for 292 of the total 403 seats. The last two phases will be held on March 3 and 7. Results will be declared on March 10. The prominent candidates in this phase included Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya contesting from Sirathu in the Kaushambi district. He is pitted against Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) candidate Pallavi Patel.

Some other ministers in the fray are Siddharth Nath Singh from Allahabad West, Rajendra Singh from Patti (Pratapgarh), Nand Gopal Gupta Nadi from Allahabad South and Ramapati Shastri from Mankapur (Gonda). Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya, who is the MLA from Kunda since 1993, is once again in the fray as a Jansatta Dal candidate, with his former aide Gulshan Yadav contesting against him on a Samajwadi Party ticket. Union minister Anupriya Patel's mother and Apna Dal(K) leader Krishna Patel is contesting from the Pratapgarh seat. The Apna Dal (K) has allied with the Samajwadi Party.

Union minister Patel, heading a rival faction of the party named after her father Sonelal Patel, however, has handed over the seat to the BJP to challenge her mother Krishna Patel. Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra Mona is fighting from Rampur Khas of Pratapgarh.

With PTI Inputs