Around 27.06 per cent of voters have exercised their franchise in the sixth phase of polling in 14 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday till 11 AM, amid severe heat wave conditions.
Except for malfunctioning of EVMs during the early period, the polling was peaceful. Voters reached the polling station hours before the voting started at 7AM to avoid the heat wave.
A total of 162 candidates are in the fray for the sixth phase to be held from 7AM to 6PM.
BJP leader Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur, Bhojpuri actor and saffron party candidate Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua and SP candidate Dharmendra Yadav from Azamgarh, TMC candidate Laliteshpati Tripathi from Bhadohi and Congress candidate Ujjwal Raman Singh from Allahabad Lok Sabha seat are the prominent candidates in the fray in this phase .
Along with 14 Lok Sabha seats, the EC will also hold by-election of Gansadi assembly segment in Balrampur district.
State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said here on Saturday that polling was underway in a peaceful note.
Among the 162 Lok Sabha candidates, 23 per cent have criminal cases against them while 36 per cent are Crorepatis.
The seats in the sixth phase are Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkarnagar, Shravasti,Dumariaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj (SC), Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhalishahar (SC) and Bhadoi.
The CEO said that there are 2.70 crore voters in the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in the sixth phase which includes 1.43 crore male and 1.27 crore female.
There are a total of 28,171 polling booths, including 3,978 critical, in the sixth phase of elections. There are 17,113 polling stations.
To keep a vigilant eye on the voting, the CEO said the Commission has also deployed 3 special observers, 14 general observers, 8 police observers and 18 expenditure observers.
Apart from the above, 2,192 Sector Magistrates, 282 Zonal Magistrates, 24 Static Magistrates and 2833 Micro Observers have also been deployed.
To complete the election process, 6,952 heavy vehicles, 7,560 light vehicles and 1,21,246 polling personnel have been deployed. Over 34,145 EVM control units, 36,986 ballot units and 36,385 VVPATs will be used for voting in the elections.
Rinwa said in view of the presence of paramilitary forces/police forces during the sixth phase of elections, arrangements have also been made for air ambulance and helicopter for medical assistance in case of emergency. The location of the helicopter will be in Ayodhya on May 24 and 25 and the location of the air ambulance will be in Prayagraj on May 25.
He said live webcasting has been arranged at more than 50 per cent polling places (14,480 polling places), which will be supervised at all three levels by District Election Officer, Chief Electoral Officer and Election Commission of India. Apart from the above, arrangements for videography have also been made at 5,057 polling places.
In the sixth phase, a total of 293 model polling stations and 86 women, 52 disabled and 63 youth personnel managed polling stations have been created.
According to the ECI , voting in UP in 14 Lok Sabha seats was 12.33 per cent till 9AM and rose to 27.06 per cent till 11AM.
At 11AM , 23.88 per cent voting was recorded in Allahabad seat, 30.02 per cent voting in Ambedkar Nagar, 28.60 per cent voting on Azamgarh, 29.08 per cent voting in Basti, 25.51 per cent voting in Bhadohi, 27.74 per cent voting in Dumriyaganj,
26.81 per cent voting on Jaunpur, 28.40 per cent voting in Lalganj, 27.18 per cent voting in Machhilishahr, 22.85 per cent voting in Phulpur, 26.35 per cent voting in Pratapgarh, 27.35 per cent voting in Sant Kabir Nagar, 26.69 per cent voting in Shravasti and 28.05 per cent voting in Sultanpur Lok Sabha seat.