World | India
Uttar Pradesh sees high turnout in peaceful polls
Millions turn up as 62% vote in the first phase
- By Ajay Jha, Chief Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 February 9, 2012
- Image Credit: Reuters
- Voters line up outside a polling booth during the Uttar Pradesh state assembly election in Haraiya town on Wednesday. Millions of voters went to the polls in the first stage of an election that tests support for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s troubled government ahead of a nationwide vote in two years.
New Delhi: Approximately 62 per cent of 17 million eligible voters turned up in the first phase of polling to elect the new Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly yesterday, according to Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha.
Heavy winter rains lashed almost all 55 constituencies spread across 10 districts of the central region. While committed voters braved the rains in the initial hours, a large number of voters, especially the youth, turned up as the rains subsided.
For the first time, there was no incident at any of the 18,083 polling booths as voting ended at 5pm.
In the 2007 assembly elections, only 46.7 per cent of voters turned up. The increased voting percentage, observers, feel may go against the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
The general feeling is that the higher voter turnout was not due to anti-incumbency but a yearning for change and development.
The large turnout of voters in Uttar Pradesh followed impressive turnout in Manipur (75 per cent), Punjab (70 per cent) and Uttarakhand (65 per cent) which went to the polls last month.
Crucial
The first phase of voting is expected to set the tone for the remaining six phases for the 403-member assembly. Yesterday's vote was also seen as crucial for the four major contenders, the Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress, Samajwadi Party the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Although the elections were peaceful, the Election Commission is still deploying 55,000 central forces and 10,000 personnel from the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary.
The second phase of polling for 59 seats is on Saturday.
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