70.66% voter turnout in Assam for second phase LS polls
Darang-Udalgauri seat recorded the highest polling of 72.99 per cent while Silchar recorded the lowest turnout at 65.57 per cent.
Amid reports of minor clashes and charges of rigging, the second phase of polling in 38 districts were held peacefully on Thursday with over 50 per cent of voters of the total 1.92 crore exercising their franchise.
In Meerut, the supporters of BJP and independent candidates clashed in the Modipuram area after which several people were taken in custody. In Azamgarh, there was a clash between police and BJP supporters over fake voting at Waisly College booth while in Ballia six people were taken into custody for fake voting.
In Ballia, Congress Nagar Palika chairman candidate Raj Kumar Gupta contesting from Rasra was critically injured in an attack on Thursday morning.
In Basti BJP MLA Ajay Singh had a verbal feud with SP leader Kaushlendra Singh in Harraiya. The husband of a BSP woman candidate was arrested in Hamirpur for threatening the voters.
Police said that reports of minor clashes between supporters of political parties were received from Badaun, Bareilly, Amethi, Ayodhya, Kanpur, Aurriya and Mainpuri. There were also reports of malfunctioning of EVMs used in the corporation polls while in several booths people complained of deletion of their names from the electoral rolls.
State Election Commissioner Manoj Kumar told The Statesman here on Thursday that the second phase of polling in 38 districts passed off peacefully.
He said that there were some reports of minor disputes in some areas but it was resolved immediately. “We have sought reports from observer’s on the complaints received from the political parties,” he said.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav has alleged rigging of polls by the ruling BJP in several areas with the support of the official machinery.
“Such polling makes a mockery of the democracy where the voters felt cheated,” he said here in a statement on Thursday.
Over 2 lakh policemen along with 35 companies of central forces and 85 companies of PAC have been deployed in the second phase of polling where 1.92 crore voters will elect candidates in 6929 posts in the three tier civic polls. There are 39146 candidates in this phase.
The polling for the first phase was held in 37 districts including 10 mayors post on May 4 while votes of both the phases would be counted on May 13.
The Mayor posts where polling was held on Thursday are Kanpur, Aligarh, Meerut, Shahjahanpur, Ghaziabad,Bareilly and Ayodhya.
The districts which went to polls in the second phase are Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Bareilly,Badaun, Shahjahanpur,Pilibhit, Hatras,Kasganj, Etah, Aligarh, Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat,Farrukhabad, Etawah, Kannauj, Auriyya, Hamirpur,Chitrakoot ,Mahoba,Banda, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Barabanki, Amethi, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Siddharth Nagar, Azamgarh ,Mau, Ballia, Sonbhadra, Bhadoi and Mirzapur.
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