53% turnount in Sikandara bypoll
KANPUR:Around 53% turnout was recorded in the Sikandara assembly bypoll in Kanpur Dehat till 5 pm on Thursday.
The voting began at a slow pace due to dense fog. Only seven per cent polling was recorded in the first three hours, but it picked up after 11 am as long queues of voters were seen at the polling centres.
The bypoll was held following the death of BJP legislator Mathura Prasad Pal after a prolonged illness on July 22 this year. There were 11 candidates in the fray. The ruling BJP has fielded Mathura Prasad’s son Ajeet Pal Singh.
Samajwadi Party fielded Seema Sachan, former zila panchayat chairperson and the Congress made Prabhakar Pandey its candidate with an eye on the Brahmin vote. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), despite being a runner-up in the 2017 assembly elections, did not field any candidate.
There were 288 polling centres for the elections and around 53% of the 3.21 lakh voters cast their votes across 391 polling booths.
The Kanpur Dehat administration had marked 58 polling sensitive booths where extra security measures were put in place for free and fair polling.
While videography was done at 110 polling centres, webcasting was done at 41 polling stations. District magistrate Rakesh Kumar Singh said the polling was completely peaceful and no untoward incident was reported.
However, he admitted that the weather played a spoilsport else the voter turnout would have higher.