Phase 2: 52.74% voter turnout on 8 West U.P. seats
Amroha records maximum polling of 61.89%, Mathura minimum of 46.96% till 5pm
MEERUT/AGRA : An estimated voter turnout of 52.74% was recorded till 5pm in eight parliamentary constituencies of West Uttar Pradesh in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday. The constituencies that went to polls in this phase are Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bulandshahr (SC), Aligarh and Mathura.
According to the Election Commission (EC), 61.89% polling was recorded in Amroha till 5 pm, followed by 55.49% in Meerut, 52.74% in Baghpat, 48.21% in Ghaziabad, 51.66% in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 54.34% in Bulandshahr, 54.36% in Aligarh and 46.96% in Mathura.
Barring a few complaints of electronic voting machines (EVMs) malfunctioning, delay in polling in some places and minor confrontation with police, polling was held peacefully.
There are more than 1.67 crore voters in these constituencies. Polling started at 7am and long queues were seen at booths in the morning as many voters chose to exercise their franchise early to avoid the heat later in the day. Among the 91 candidates in the fray are actorturned-politician Hema Malini, seeking a third term from Mathura on a BJP ticket, Ramayan fame actor Arun Govil (BJP) in Meerut, former Union minister Mahesh Sharma in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Congress candidate Danish Ali in Amroha.
Govil is pitted against INDIA bloc candidate and former mayor Sunita Verma of the Samajawadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Devvrat Tyagi.
In Amroha, Danish Ali (Congress) is pitted against former MP Kanwar Singh Tanwar of the BJP and the BSP’s Mujahid Hussain. Elaborate security arrangements were made with deployment of police along with paramilitary forces to ensure peaceful polling.
Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Kuldeep Ujjawal allegedly had a confrontation with the police in Baghpat as he accused police of harassing his party leaders and supporters.
Congress’s Amroha candidate Danish Ali had an argument with police over him talking on his mobile phone inside the booth.
“Ban on mobile (phone) was for voters and not candidates,” he explained to to an officer and asked him to enquire about the rule. He also accused the police of harassing voters to prevent them from voting at some booths. The Samajwadi Party also posted complaints on X.
Meanwhile, villagers boycotted polling at Jhundi Maafi in Amroha as they were upset over waterlogging on the approach road to the village.
Only 75 voters turned up to exercise their franchise at the Jat-dominated Dhikauli village in Baghpat by 12 noon. While a few attributed this to indifference of voters, others claimed farmers were busy due to the wheat harvest season.
Malfunctioning of EVMs was also reported from booth number 279 at Sisana village, booth number 262 at Khaprana village, booth number 222 at Jain inter college of Khekra and booth number 119 at Asaara village of Baghpat constituency.
Poll officials said the complaints were immediately taken note of and resolved.
In Mathura, Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Suresh Singh cast his vote with his family. Congress candidate Mukesh Dhangar too exercised his franchise. Former Uttar Pradesh energy minister Shrikant Sharma also cast his vote in Mathura.
There were reports of a minor clash between Congress and BJP supporters at a polling booth at a primary school in Dampere Nagar in Mathura towards the end of polling. Police reached the spot to pacify the protestors.
In Aligarh, BJP’s Hathras candidate and UP minister Anup Valmiki and his wife exercised their franchise. Another minister Sandeep Singh, grandson of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and ex-Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh governor the late Kalyan Singh, voted at Madholi village in Aligarh district’s Atrauli.
Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary along with his wife Charu Chaudhary turned up at a booth in Mathura to cast their votes.
“People are impressed by the performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the past 10 years and that is why BJP is getting support from them in a big way,” Jayant Chaudhary told reporters.
In Ghaziabad, Union minister of state General (retd) V K Singh cast his vote in the morning. Singh, the current BJP MP from Ghaziabad, had announced not to contest the elections this time and the party in his place has fielded former Uttar Pradesh minister Atul Garg as its candidate.
In response to a question, VK Singh said he was confident that the BJP would achieve Modi’s target of crossing 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.:
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