Missing names, EVM snags in east UP round

14 seats, 177 candidates, 25 million voters

54.74% turnout was recorded as per the Election Commission’s Voter Turnout app, as 14 Lok Sabha seats went to polls in Uttar Pradesh in the sixth phase of the ongoing national polls. The polling for the remaining 13 of the state’s 80 seats will be held in the seventh and the final phase of the elections on May 19.

Incidents were reported from Azamgarh, Sultanpur, Phulpur, Allahabad. Complaints about missing names from voters’ lists, electronic voting machine (EVM) snags in Pratapgarh and Allahabad, and sporadic incidents of violence marred the polling on Sunday.

In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 13 of the 14 seats. The BJP faces a combined strength of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which are contesting the polls in an alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

In Madaripur village in trans Yamuna under Phulpur Lok Sabha seat, polling agents and supporters of SP and BJP clashed, resorting to stone pelting. Superintendent of Police Narendra Kumar Singh rushed to the scene with policemen to diffuse the situation. Singh said that order was soon restored and action would be taken against miscreants.

In Azamgarh, a mob threw stones at SP lawmaker Durga Prasad Yadav’s vehicle in Kishanpur

village when he was on his way to a polling booth after receiving information that Dalits were not being allowed to vote. Police superintendent Kamlesh Bahadur along with policemen dispersed the mob. Miscreants reportedly shattered Yadav’s vehicle windscreen.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav (Azamgarh) and Union minister Maneka Gandhi (Sultanpur) were among those in the fray on Sunday. Gandhi, who won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Pilibhit, swapped her seat with son, Varun Gandhi.

Uttar Pradesh’s chief electoral officer, L Venkateshwarlu, said a presiding officer was removed in Azamgarh following SP’s complaints. “A report has been sought from the district magistrate,” he said.

In a letter to the CEO, SP’s Rajbahadur Yadav said polling officers “deliberately” slowed down the polling in OBC, Dalit and Muslim-dominated areas “on the pretext of cross-checking IDs and related documents of voters”.

In Bhadoi, a presiding officer alleged BJP MLA Deenanath Bhaskar slapped him. The MLA denied the charge.