Save stray clashes, last phase poll peaceful
MINOR GLITCHES EVM malfunctioning reported at some places but polling was not hampered
VARANASI/GORAKHPUR: Barring sporadic incidents of skirmish and irregularities in Chandauli, voting for the last phase of polling in 13 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh, including Varanasi from where PM Narendra Modi is seeking a second term, remained peaceful.
In the last phase of polling, the seats which went to polls included Varanasi, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon (SC), Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Robertsganj (SC).
The activists of the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party came face-to-face at Parashurampur polling booth in Chandauli over installing the flag of their respective party at the polling station.
After a heated exchange, the two sides came to blows. The police had to use mild force to control the situation.
In another incident, residents of Tarajeevanpur village in Chandauli Lok Sabha constituency, along with Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party workers, staged a protest outside Alinagar police station alleging that BJP workers forcibly applied indelible ink on the fingers of five people and gave them Rs 500 each asking them to skip voting.
“On the complaint of villagers, the police registered a case against seven people and arrested two of them,” superintendent of police (SP), Chandauli, Santosh Singh said.
The BJP, however, refuted the allegations.
Voters of two villages, Odauli in Sonbhadra and Madhopur in Varanasi, boycotted polling. Residents of Odauli said despite their demands, link road to the village was not repaired. In Madhopur too, people said no development took place in their village.
In Gorakhpur and Bansgaon constituencies, two election officials died of sudden illness. “Rajaram, 56, a polling officer at Prathmik Vidyalay Madhopur in Pipraich area in Gorakhpur seat, suddenly fell ill. He was rushed to a community health centre where he was pronounced dead,” assistant election officer JN Maurya said.
In Bansgaon, Vinod Srivastav, 50, died around midnight due to cardiac arrest. He was an employee with the sugarcane department.
In Gorakhpur, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who was one of the first voters, said: “People are fighting this election for national interest and if someone cannot understand this thing, his IQ is questionable. The entire election revolved around Modi ji. With big achievements of his government during the last five years, the BJP will win the election.” Union minister Shiv Pratap Shukla, who also cast his vote in Gorakhpur, said BJP candidate Ravi Kishan would win by a margin of over three lakh votes and the BJP would form the government. Reports of EVM malfunctioning were reported from some places but polling was not hampered.
Eight farmers were detained in Kushinagar when they boycotted election and staged a protest by carrying sugarcaneladen tractor trolley to booths number 64 and 65 of Nauka Chapra, alleging that a sugar mill had stopped cane crushing and their produce was perishing.
CRUCIAL PHASE
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is re-contesting from Varanasi. Besides Modi, 25 other candidates are in fray. Modi’s main challengers include Congress’ Ajay Rai and SP-BSP’s joint candidate Shalini Yadav.
The final phase will decide the fate of eight SP and five BSP candidates. In all, there are 167 candidates in the fray for 13 seats. The BJP is contesting 11 Lok Sabha seats in this phase, while its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) is contesting from Mirzapur (currently held by Union minister Anupriya Patel) and Robertsganj.
This year, the BJP is facing a direct challenge from the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party (SP-BSP) alliance on 10 seats, while in two seats -- Kushinagar and Deoria -- it’s a triangular contest with the Congress. The Congress is contesting on 12 seats.
The party has pitted Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan from Gorakhpur against Congress’ Madhusudan Tripathi and Rambhual Nishad of the Samajwadi Party.
Gorakhpur MP Pravin Nishad, who had won the seat on a SP ticket in Lok Sabha bypolls last year, has joined the BJP and has been fielded from Sant Kabir Nagar. Gorakhpur was represented by Yogi Adityanath in the Lok Sabha from 1998 to 2017, before he vacated the seat to take over as UP chief minister. Union minister Manoj Sinha is seeking re-election from Ghazipur.
The highest number of 26 candidates in the fray are from Varanasi, while Bansgaon has the least number of four candidates fighting the polls.
The total number of voters who are eligible to cast vote in this phase is over 2.32 crore. As many as 25,874 polling booths have been set up in 13,979 polling centres.